And yet they won't reform contracts, payroll or work practices that cost the State hundreds of millions. Have you need to Naas Hospital A&E? Go in and spend a few hours sitting there. It would be hilarious if it wasn't so serious. The chaotic and incompetent way the Nurses run the place has to be seem to be believed.
Who won't reformed contracts? Doctors have been asking for new GP and consultant contracts for years. DoH have failed to discuss GP contract and then produced a bizarre Slaintecare contract which is going nowhere. I've never been to NAAS ED but what exactly are the nurses doing that is so wrong? And what does that have to do with the union?
Junior doctors did those kind of hours, mainly Interns. SHO's also worked crazy hours (many still do). Neither Interns or SHO's are operating on anyone.
Well I was a junior doctor for almost a decade, which is a long time to work those hours. Where are you getting your information on SHOs? Ours operate every week.
Registrars do simple procedures, if approved to do so by the Consultant they work under. Let's not make stuff up.
Again, where are you getting this from? Registrars do complex procedures all the time and towards the end of their training may well have their own lists. When I was a 3rd year SHO I was doing full lists as the primary surgeon with the consultant teaching/assisting.
They are certainly writing prescriptions and monitoring patients when way too tired to do so but that's because Consultants won't do their job and when those NCHD's become Consultants they don't do their job either.
What is this based on? In my unit consultants are available 24/7, do teaching morning, lunchtime, evening, see patients 1-2 times per day, do clinics, operate, do research... It sounds like you are making claims based on the distant past because I have worked in hospitals all over Ireland and I have never seen what you're describing.
I wouldn't clean out septic tanks for a living but some people so. Horses for courses.
My point is that nurses also come in for unfair criticism when in fact they do a very tough job in poor conditions. Brilliant nursing colleagues of mine who have moved abroad will never return, they are treated so much better. We should be trying to keep them here instead of buying into this anti-union, anti-public service hysteria.
That's an oxymoron.
How come we have one of the best funded healthcare systems in the world but some of the worst metrics for outcomes in the OECD?
It's not all about funding, planning and infrastructure are huge elements. We have no national electronic patient record, no sign of the individual health identifier, HSE has multiple HR/salary offices which do not work together. We also concentrate huge resources in hospital which should be done in the community - that's the core of Slaintecare, which has been delayed and undermined.
Is it all the fault of every single Minister for Health for the last 40 years?
Every element of the system plays a part, including the general public who have voted in governments that allow the status quo to perpetuate. The creation of the HSE was a huge failure as it just stuck a lot of health boards together but let fiefdoms develop. The creation of the Vhi and the proliferation of private care is also DoH and government's doing.
Sorry guys, but you gotta' take responsibility for the mess you perpetuate. Heroes? Don't make me laugh.
I've never heard anyone in healthcare refer to healthcare staff as heroes.