HSE – Slugger O'Toole

Eleanor Leahy’s fight for answers for her son

Johnny Fallon on October 20, 2015, 8:46 am

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Eleanor Leahy gave birth to baby Nathan on the 12th of January 2003 in Erinville . At a tiny 725g Nathan was thought unlikely to survive. He was, however, a fighter and he clung with all his strength to life and did indeed survive. Sadly, despite this achievement the story is no fairytale. His mother has spent years looking for answers. Being born so premature, disability was a promise from birth. A kind of ‘best case’ scenario. Eleanor had suffered …

The price of cancer for children in the Republic

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

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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 …

#Budget14: Labour gets a fillip as Noonan gambles on a rising economic tide…

Mick Fealty on October 16, 2013, 9:38 am

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Well the mood music at the Fine Gael’s National Conference was pretty upbeat. They reckoned that offering free medical cards for the under fives was going to frame the post budget debate, and they weren’t wrong. Most striking aspect of the opposition’s problem (mostly FF’s) was in trying to land a single major blow on the intricate tracework of the Michael and Brendan show yesterday. They reduced the target somewhat by restructuring repayments on the deficit less painful. Medical cards …

The Reilly Shortall affair: And Ireland’s loss of political direction…

Mick Fealty on October 5, 2012, 8:28 am

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It’s been a good week to be in opposition in Irish politics. Pretty distressing if you’re trying to keep it together inside Government. Billy Kelleher of Fianna Fail may have been the one who first flushed out Roisin Shortall… but Mary Lou’s been reaping the benefits too… So what’s the issue? Well, to start at the beginning, the problem relates to the implementation of a strategy in primary health care. Interestingly, the strategy dates from 2001 (PDF), and was the …