Health – Page 5 – Slugger O'Toole

Meningitis B vaccine and the cost of life

Robert Campbell on March 29, 2015, 1:50 pm

| Readers 386

The BBC reports today (here) that agreement has been reached between the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt (the one-time ‘Hulture’ Secretary, as James Naughtie nearly described him) and the suppliers of the Meningitis B vaccine. No exact date has been set for the introduction of the vaccine, though it will be added to the schedule of vaccinations (available here). The introduction of a vaccine against the B-strain has been delayed by a year while the Health Secretary and the suppliers discussed …

The Captain of the Men of Death

Robert Campbell on March 24, 2015, 1:24 pm

| Readers 271

Yet the captain of all these men of death that came against him to take him away, was the consumption, for it was that that brought him down to the grave. —John Bunyan Today, 24 March is World Tuberculosis Day (and here) and the anniversary of the day in 1882 when Robert Koch announced his finding of Mycobacterium tuberculosis as the causative germ of TB. TB, in those days was a major cause of death, accounting for perhaps 20% of …

The Northern Ireland GP crisis. The doctor won’t see you now…

Brian O'Neill on March 24, 2015, 11:29 am

| Readers 3131

Across Northern Ireland there is a shortage of 234 family doctors. Some 25% of GPs are over 55 so many will be retiring soon further worsening the situation. The number of GP practices in Northern Ireland has shrunk to the lowest level in nearly a quarter of a century – and that each GP surgery in the region is, on average, now providing care to 500 more people than ten years ago. Over the last decade, the number of registered …

The Royal rumbled – the worst Accident and Emergency department in the UK for waiting times keeps getting worse

Peter Donaghy (Salmon of Data) on March 22, 2015, 4:46 pm

| Readers 1656

Previously, I had written on how the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast had the worst waiting times in the UK in September 2014, with 64.5% of cases being dealt with within four hours, against a target of 95%. Since this analysis, data has now been published showing performance up to February 2015. For anyone who may need emergency care (i.e. everybody), the data does not make for encouraging reading. In February 2015, only 52.5% of those presenting themselves to A&E …

Clowns to the left of them, jokers to the right. Paramedics stuck in the middle with you…

Soapbox on March 17, 2015, 11:26 am

| Readers 1765

We get the inside track from a paramedic about the ambulance strike… I was glad to have the opportunity on Friday to re-post my article from last November where I described some of the difficulties currently faced by Paramedics in Northern Ireland. I felt it important to provide some context of the proposed Ambulance Service strike on Friday as the verbal jousting between NIAS managers and union spokespeople that day left me bemused to say the least. After NIAS cynically broke the strike …

Austerity and Health

Robert Campbell on March 5, 2015, 12:45 pm

| Readers 507

For the last 30-plus years, the dominant politico-economic theory in the West has been ‘neo-liberalisation’. Roughly, this believes in the pre-eminence of the market, that the market is always right, that government should be small and not provide services. The response of neo-liberalism to bad times is austerity. A retrenchment of state services, and an emphasis on debt reduction. What effects does austerity have on health? It’s not so easy at this stage to be factually certain, for statistics often …

The price of cancer for children in the Republic

The Firemen on February 15, 2015, 1:16 pm

| Readers 515

More than 70% of the population in the Republic of Ireland have to pay to see their GP, as well as prescription charges and Health Care Costs. More than one in four sick people are deterred from visiting their GP as a result. Costs to see a GP range from anywhere between €45 – €75, to call out an ambulance can cost anywhere from €100, as can a hospital stay. Add to that prescription charges and illness can be a …

Your 60 second guide to ‘three-parent’ babies…

Robert Campbell on February 3, 2015, 5:59 pm

| Readers 224

The Westminster parliament will discuss ‘mitochondrial transfer’ or ‘three-parent’ babies today. Concerns about the ethics and safety of this have been raised. If parliament agrees, such procedures will become legal in the UK. There has already been considerable discussion and debate about this, as Polly Toynbee describes. The problems seem to centre around the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), and confusion of this with the DNA which we inherit from both our parents. A chicken’s egg is a cell; the yolk is …

Does Northern Ireland have too many hospitals?

Robert Campbell on January 28, 2015, 12:43 pm

| Readers 1599

A recent report into health services in N Ireland has said that there are ‘too many hospitals’. The report also has a lot to say about the organisational structure of the NHS here. This isn’t the first time that hospital provision here has been questioned; decades ago, an MP in the old Stormont described N Ireland as having a hospital at every bus stop. So how many acute district hospitals (DGH) would be appropriate? It’s easy enough to calculate a …

Causes and cures for the Accident and Emergency crisis: a data perspective

Peter Donaghy (Salmon of Data) on January 13, 2015, 11:06 pm

| Readers 801

There have been a number of excellent pieces on Slugger recently regarding Northern Ireland’s A&E crisis. A lot of suggestions have been put forward for how to tackle the crisis, and a lot of reasons have been put forward for why performance, in particular against the four hour waiting time target, has deteriorated in recent years. I have been sourcing data to see how some of these ideas stack up. Too many bureaucrats and not enough doctors It has been …

Terminating your care – The £600 million hole in the health budget

Soapbox on January 13, 2015, 3:33 pm

| Readers 633

Writing exclusively for Slugger, the respected medic Dr George O’Neill gives his proposal to tackle the crisis in A & E. Dr George O’Neill qualified in 1971 and is a General Practitioner in practice in North & West Belfast for 40 years. He was for 6 years Chair of the Belfast Local Commissioning Group and he also Chairs Addiction NI. The extra £80 million additional funding this financial year to Health is approximately 50% of what is required and will still …

From Napoleon to drunks in the Royal. The messy state of Accident & Emergency Departments.

Robert Campbell on January 12, 2015, 8:19 am

| Readers 589

Korhomme is a retired medical consultant. Pick up any newspaper these days, and you’re certain to find an article about the woes of A&E departments. Overrun with patients, the waiting time requirements have gone to pot. And here, in N Ireland, we are the leaders in the UK in terms of long waits, as described on Slugger here. The medics who work in A&Es aren’t happy, and neither would you be, for this story has an awful ring of truth …

Why are GPs so unhappy?

Robert Campbell on January 9, 2015, 7:46 pm

| Readers 1037

Korhomme is a retired medical consultant. When I was young we lived in the University area of Belfast; out General Practitioner (GP) lived round the corner, and worked from home, as was usual in those days. To see him—and GPs were almost exclusively male then—you went in the front door, and waited. It was important to count the number of people in the waiting room, so you’d know when it was your turn. In his surgery, you were often met …

Driven to the edge? An insider’s view of the Belfast Ambulance service

Soapbox on November 18, 2014, 4:21 pm

| Readers 6559

Due to the ambulance strike today we are republishing this post as it helps explain the background to the strike. We have also kept the original comments – feel free to add new comments. Continuing our series on health, we hear from a paramedic about the challenges the service is facing. As a Paramedic working on an emergency ambulance it was encouraging to read George O’Neill’s article on Slugger last week that recognised the vital role of the ambulance service …

A Solution to Our Emergency Department Crisis – Lock the Doors of A & E

Soapbox on November 6, 2014, 5:17 pm

| Readers 2385

Writing exclusively for Slugger, the respected medic Dr George O’Neill gives his proposal to tackle the crisis in A & E. Dr George O’Neill qualified in 1971 and is a General Practitioner in practice in North & West Belfast for 40h years.He was for 6 years Chair of the Belfast Local Commissioning Group and he also Chairs Addiction NI. The media are constantly carrying stories about overloaded emergency departments. Politicians are demanding action, patients are constantly complaining, managers are constantly interfering …

DUP: “Did Martin McGuinness just not listen to the Chief Medical Officer in April?”

Mick Fealty on August 24, 2014, 9:27 am

| Readers 2771

Got this presser yesterday from the DUP under the byline of their Holywood based MLA Gordon Dunne. I think it’s interesting enough replicate the whole thing here without further comment… ‘Following the question being posed on a radio show this morning, the deputy First Minister rushed out a request for a meeting with the Chief Medical Officer. This follows details emerging of the impact that Sinn Fein cuts will have on the Department of Health as a result of their …

Poots to pit welfare reform against impending NHS spending ‘cuts’ in Northern Ireland?

Mick Fealty on August 22, 2014, 9:56 am

| Readers 1982

So, relax. Despite some fevered rumours to the contrary Ed Poots is calling time on the current executive, yet. Despite, or perhaps because of, a wrap over the knuckles for a £13.1 million overspend in Health, he’s gone into overdrive to point out that a £20 million rise in the Health budget is in fact a real terms cut. #108878571 / gettyimages.com As the BelTel notes… Edwin Poots insisted the health service would not be able to function properly if a …

Peter Hain: “since I was running the place I could more or less do what I wanted to do…”

Pete Baker on June 29, 2014, 5:23 pm

| Readers 148

The former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland [and Wales, etc! – Ed], Peter Hain, has been reminiscing about the good old days… “When I was Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in 2005-07, [Prince Charles] was delighted when I told him that since I was running the place I could more or less do what I wanted to do. “I was able to introduce a trial for complementary medicine on the NHS, and it had spectacularly good results, that …

“Be Catholic and have a large family”: Tim McGarry at Carers Week launch

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on June 10, 2014, 7:42 am

| Readers 376

Thousands of people across Northern Ireland provide care for others throughout the year. Carers Week is organised by several charities that come together to celebrate this contribution, signpost carers to further information and support, and encourage ‘hidden’ carers to come forward and be counted. Carers NI sponsored a Carers Week launch event at the Linen Hall Library, which featured short speeches by Edwin Poots MLA (Minister for Health and Social Care), Kevin Daly (Carers NI Chair), Pamela McCready (Director, Transforming …

Abortion turndown is a constitutional issue

Brian Walker on May 9, 2014, 10:41 am

| Readers 64

The ruling in the English High Court against free abortions for Northern Ireland women in England comes as no surprise. Have campaigners legally examined the situation in Scotland? This now seems like a case for the Supreme Court where the issue would be: Are devolution powers superior to UK equal citizens’ rights? An aspect of the judge’s comments intrigued me: He ruled that Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s duty to promote a comprehensive health service in England “is a duty in relation to the physical and mental …