Fergal Bowers

1 month ago | rte.ie | Fergal Bowers

An internal audit for the HSE has found it had over €14.6m in payroll overpayments recorded at the end of 2023. The HSE had written off over €909,500 of the amount for the years 2023 and 2022. For overpayments in excess of €10,000 - the main reasons were employees not taken off the payroll (19% of cases), pension overpayment for an active or deceased person (16%), late entry of unpaid leave (15%), Master Data Error (14%) or sick leave related error.

1 month ago | rte.ie | Fergal Bowers

The College of Psychiatrists of Ireland has called for a major overhaul of the management and governance of the Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). In a policy document published today, the college said that the CAMHS has been beset by chronic under-funding and under-resourcing. It also said there have been failures to provide fit-for-purpose governance systems to develop CAMHS in line with the Government policy documents 'A Vision for Change' and 'Sharing the Vision'.

1 month ago | rte.ie | Fergal Bowers

Ireland saw an eight per cent rise in admissions for stroke in hospitals in 2023, according to the Irish National Audit of Stroke Care, published today. It found that the average timeline of care from arrival at hospital to medical review improved from 14 minutes in 2022, to nine minutes in 2023. The rate for surgical removal of clots (Thrombectomy) in an artery rose to 11.2%, nearly three times the rate reported in the UK.

1 month ago | rte.ie | Fergal Bowers

Five years since the first cases of Covid-19 here, and it feels like that time and place was another country. We no longer hear regular terms such as social distancing, self-isolation, community transmission, virus mitigation and suppression, the R number, or the EU Digital Covid Certificate, for travel abroad. We also had the National Public Health Emergency Team, and of course the dreaded lockdowns.

1 month ago | rte.ie | Fergal Bowers

Five years on from the first cases here of Covid-19, many people are living with Long Covid, a group of health problems that persist after initial infection. Lydia Fischer Dooley, 33, has been trying to cope with symptoms of Long Covid for several years, since she first contracted the disease. Because of her illness, she is back at home in Dublin living with her family. She said that before becoming infected, she took the advice on protecting herself seriously from the start of the pandemic.