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Martina Devlin: Hospitals’ shame – this is no way to care for our sick and dying
A television set in the ward blaring out a football match. A curtain separating one cubicle from the next, offering the flimsiest semblance of privacy. That soulless scene described by actor Gabriel...
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Woman left in ‘locked in’ state following surgery secures €2.5m settlement
Dr John O’Mahony, for Ms O’Leary, said there could be 100 different causes for continuous hiccoughs but there are 12 key ones which could have been investigated. A neurological examination in 2006...
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Call for participants for new study on the effects of dementia
People caring for those with dementia are under such a high level of ongoing stress their own cognitive function may be impaired, and they may even be at risk of developing dementia themselves at a...
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Newborn death rate falls by one-third in a decade
Ireland continues to have the highest birth rate across Europe, with 15.6 births per 1,000 people, said Dr Miriam Wiley, of the ESRI, which compiled the perinatal report for 2012. (Independent)...
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To keep my medical card I had to threaten the HSE
To get the card I mentioned I had to threaten the HSE with the fact that I was meeting the Minister for Health the following week (I was, but in another context) and I got the card for my relative at...
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GPs giving antibiotics instead of ‘cold comfort’
PATIENTS suffering from coughs and sneezes are being handed antibiotics by their GPs when all they really want is some cold comfort. A study has found that GPs can wrongly believe they are under...
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Being really ill with cancer, but looking healthy, can make a harsh situation...
When I sit down in the oncology day ward for treatment, I normally get looks from other patients who expect it to be my mother having the chemo. One day I decided to ask her not to accompany me to my...
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Doctors prescribing antibiotics unnecessarily
Irish doctors prescribe antibiotics for colds and flus unnecessarily, for fear of offending their patients, a new study has found. Dr Laura Noonan said doctors struggled with the “cultural expectation”...
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Respect for staff of Beaumont’s casualty department
Could I accept using a plastic chair as my work area as I hunkered down beside a patient in a wheelchair to insert a cannula while someone squeezed past to enter the toilet? I’m not sure I could. Could...
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Files of patients who took heart risk tests forgotten in blunder
HUNDREDS of children and adults who underwent tests for a potentially fatal heart condition are at the centre of a major hospital blunder. A mistake at the National Centre for Medical Genetics, located...
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Hospital says patients unaffected by delays in getting genetic test results
The national centre for medical genetics at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin, Dublin, has said there is no indication that any patients suffered adverse consequences as a result of delays in...
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Discharge activity in acute public hospitals in Ireland, 2012 Annual Report
This report presents information on discharges from 57 Irish acute public hospitals participating in the Hospital In-Patient Enquiry (HIPE) scheme in 2012. The HIPE system is supported and managed by...
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State Claims Agency in the spotlight over handling of sensitive medical cases
The State Claims Agency, the organisation that manages personal injury and property damage claims against the State, tends to go about its work quietly, without impinging much on the public...
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Number of public patients continues to rise
The proportion of public patients discharged from Irish hospitals rose last year, continuing the trend which has seen an average annual increase in public patients of 4.4 per cent since 2008. Public...
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Batteries not included: patients asked to bring AAs for monitors
A hospital has been asking patients to provide their own batteries for medical equipment, it has emerged. It was confirmed last week that Ennis General Hospital in Co Clare had been telling patients...
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Patient narrative: ‘I was so tired and had this feeling that I’d just...
Inspired by her experience, last month Tracy addressed an Oireachtas health committee about the problems with diagnosis and treatment for Lyme disease available to patients in Ireland. (Independent)...
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Hospital early warning system could have saved Savita Halappanavar, says Reilly
The death of Savita Halappanavar has brought into “sharp focus” the need for uniformity across the hospital system in dealing with infections, Minister for Health Dr James Reilly has said. Her death...
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Infant (Irish Centre for Fetal and Neonatal Translational Research) centre in...
The appropriately named Infant (Irish Centre for Fetal and Neonatal Translational Research) centre in Cork is finding new treatments for common conditions in pregnant women and newborn babies. The...
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Eilish O’Regan: Fears of hospital cuts putting patients at risk closer to...
IT’S inevitable that large tracts of the HSE’s National Service Plan, outlining its spending and cuts in 2014, will be a work of fiction. When it comes to budget targets, figures are highly unreliable....
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Staff’s bad hygiene in Holles St a danger to newborns
A highly critical HIQA report has revealed how less than half the staff who were under observation during a hygiene inspector’s visit followed the basic rule of infection control. The unannounced...
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