Updated: 27 Feb 2021, 16:27
HSE public health doctors have opened up about working for a “dysfunctional” organisation which has ignored pandemic experts in its own ranks.
In interviews with the Irish Sun, they explained how:
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THE lack of pandemic planning left Ireland at the mercy of Covid-19
PUBLIC health pandemic expertise was ignored, doctors silenced by the HSE on issues including new variants
OUTBREAK data is still gathered using paper, while the source of almost half of all cases in HSE South is unknown
FEAR of fines mean people are not giving them the full story for contact tracing, and how
LIBRARIANS were drafted in to bolster the ranks during the first wave.
Updated: 27 Feb 2021, 15:53
EXHAUSTED public health doctors “betrayed” by government have demanded that Ireland gets tougher on travel – as the vaccine alone will not control Covid-19.
The country’s forgotten frontline doctors today accuse Micheal Martin’s government of preferring to listen to expensive consultancy firms over expert medics.
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Midlands-based public health doc Dr Ina Kelly
HSE Mid-West Dr Ann Dee slammed the December reopening as “the most expensive Christmas party in history.”
She told the Irish Sun: “The third wave was absolute chaos. The Government opened up and any public health doctor in the country knew this way going to happen.”
The Irish Medical Organisation says over 270 thousand patients have been on a waiting list to see a consultant for over 12 months.
It says the difficulty in keeping consultants has led directly to long waiting lists for both in-patient and outpatient care.
Its members have voted overwhelmingly to reject the Public Service Pay Agreement because it doesn t recognise the realities of the pandemic.
The IMO s Public Health Committee Chair, Dr Ina Kelly, says consultants are exhausted and are thinking of quitting:
Proposed agreement overwhelmingly rejected by IMO public health service members
‘New health service realities’ brought about by pandemic not recognised in agreement
Members of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) who work in the public health services including hospital consultants, non consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs), Public Health Doctors (PHDs) and Community Health Doctors have voted overwhelmingly (95%) to reject the new Public Service Agreement –
Building Momentum.
The proposed agreement is intended to serve as an updated extension to the framework of previous public service agreements, including the most recent – the Public Service Stability Agreement (2018 – 2020) – which was due to expire on December 31 2020.
The Council of the IMO recommended to members that they reject the agreement.