There is a general acceptance hyperbolic headlines will command more attention than mundane truths. But there is nothing either exaggerated or mundane about the announcement that we have the highest daily number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the world.
Our seven-day average is 1,394 cases per million – higher than the UK (810) and the USA (653).
This is a dire picture no-one wanted to see. Our hospitals will soon be overwhelmed.
Head of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association, Prof Alan Irvine, has warned: “The acute hospital system is under the greatest pressure that it’s ever been in living memory. This is truly a national emergency in our acute hospitals.”
Record waiting lists a consequence of hospital consultant shortage, says IHCA
Soaring hospital waiting lists highlight the impact the consultant shortage is having on patient care, the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) has said.
Latest figures from the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) showed that the consultant waiting list surged by 152 per cent over the past 12 months.
The number of people waiting more than 12 months to see a specialist, according to the NTPF, has increased by 4,133 since the start of the year; while, at the same time, 9,248 individuals have been added to adult general surgery outpatient waiting list.
“Each statistic represents a person waiting for the care they desperately need, while potentially deteriorating clinically or living in pain,” IHCA President
Prof Alan Irvine, President of the IHCA
Fix pay disparity to end consultant exodus, says IHCA
A damning report revealing 23 specialists a month were quitting the Irish health service was further evidence of the country’s consultant recruitment crisis, the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) has said.
Days after the IHCA highlighted Health Service Executive (HSE) figures showing more than 612,000 people were waiting for an appointment to see a hospital consultant, a report from the Medical Council revealed that 453 specialists had left the medical profession between January 2019 and August 2020.
The Council’s Medical Workforce Intelligence Report also stated that Ireland had the lowest number of consultant doctors in the European Union (EU), at 1.49 per 1,000 population, while 25 per cent of doctors who had withdrawn their registration during the same 20-month period were specialists.