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1 month ago | 
medicalindependent.ie | Priscilla Lynch |Niamh Cahill |David Lynch |Catherine Reilly
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1 month ago | 
medicalindependent.ie | Niamh Cahill |Catherine Reilly |David Lynch |Pat Kelly
NOTE: By submitting this form and registering with us, you are providing us with permission to store your personal data and the record of your registration. In addition, registration with the Medical Independent includes granting consent for the delivery of that additional professional content and targeted ads, and the cookies required to deliver same. View our Privacy Policy and Cookie Notice for further details.
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2 months ago | 
medicalindependent.ie | Niamh Cahill |Catherine Reilly |David Lynch |Alan Moran
Photo: iStock LysenkoAlexander The introduction of the new health regions was listed on the HSE risk register at the end of 2024. According to the register, there was a high risk that “implementation of the HSE’s health regions and centre reforms will be delayed and benefits not realised”. However, a HSE spokesperson confirmed to the Medical Independent that the new regions, due to take effect on 1 March, are now “operational”. “Each region is responsible for providing both hospital and...
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2 months ago | 
medicalindependent.ie | Niamh Cahill |Catherine Reilly |David Lynch |Alan Moran
The IHCA has launched its position paper outlining concerns and a number of strategic considerations in relation to key elements of the recently published Mental Health Bill 2024. The IHCA “strongly supports” the Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler, in reforming mental health legislation. The IHCA engaged with the previous Joint Committee on Mental Health, providing a detailed submission to the pre-legislative scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Bill.
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Mar 24, 2025 | 
medicalindependent.ie | Niamh Cahill |Catherine Reilly |Priscilla Lynch |David Lynch
Credit: iStock/fstop123 A leading obstetrician has raised concerns about the long waiting times faced by many families for receipt of coronial post-mortem reports into perinatal deaths. Prof Keelin O’Donoghue, Consultant Obstetrician, Cork University Maternity Hospital, said an increasing number of perinatal deaths and stillbirths are subject to coronial investigation. The Coroners (Amendment) Act 2019 increased and clarified the range of reportable deaths, including infant deaths. “The...
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Mar 24, 2025 | 
medicalindependent.ie | Catherine Reilly |Niamh Cahill |Priscilla Lynch |David Lynch
Credit: iStock.com/Stígur Már Karlsson /Heimsmyndir The HSE’s infection control unit intervened to ensure hand hygiene training was reinstated as mandatory, according to internal records . In January 2024, the HSE antimicrobial resistance and infection control (AMRIC) oversight group discussed a circular from human resources (HR) which did not include hand hygiene training as a mandatory training requirement. The circular, which was issued in August 2023, outlined the statutory and mandatory...
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Mar 24, 2025 | 
medicalindependent.ie | Priscilla Lynch |Catherine Reilly |David Lynch |Niamh Cahill
Credit: iStock.icom/Pattarisara Suvichanarakul The HSE is to review its approach to influenza (flu) vaccination for healthcare workers (HCWs) following a large fall in uptake this winter, the Medical Independent (MI) can reveal. Of the 107,947 HSE healthcare workers recorded between September 2024 and March 2025, approximately 34,000 received the flu vaccine, representing an uptake rate of only 32 per cent. This is a sharp decline from the 2023/24 season, when uptake was 50.3 per cent. It is...
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Mar 24, 2025 | 
medicalindependent.ie | Niamh Cahill |Catherine Reilly |Priscilla Lynch |David Lynch
The National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) is exploring ways to reduce backlogs in paediatric care, the Medical Independent has learned. The NTPF has initiated a “preliminary market consultation” inviting private hospitals and non-hospital settings on the island of Ireland to submit information on their paediatric care services.
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Mar 24, 2025 | 
medicalindependent.ie | David Lynch |Catherine Reilly |Niamh Cahill |Priscilla Lynch
Outpatient department (OPD) productivity is a key focus for the HSE national productivity unit (NPU), this newspaper has been informed. The NPU’s work has included collaboration with statutory and voluntary clinical services to “focus on practical ways” to optimise OPD productivity, a HSE spokesperson told the Medical Independent. This process has included the use of behavioural science insights to support progress on waiting time targets.
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Mar 24, 2025 | 
medicalindependent.ie | Catherine Reilly |Niamh Cahill |Priscilla Lynch |David Lynch
Credit: iStock.com/Drazen Zigic “Limited” training opportunities have been cited by doctors who withdrew from the medical register’s general division in 2023. Most doctors who voluntarily withdrew from the general division stated that they wished to practise medicine abroad (66.5 per cent, n=443), according to a Medical Council supplementary report for 2023. There were a number of key themes raised in the feedback provided by these doctors. “The themes generated included practising abroad,...
