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1 week 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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1 week 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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1 month ago | 
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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1 month ago | 
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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1 month ago | 
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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1 month ago | 
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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1 month ago | 
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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1 month ago | 
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,...
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1 month ago | 
medicalindependent.ie | Catherine Reilly |Niamh Cahill |Priscilla Lynch |David Lynch
Credit: iStockphoto.com/sutlafk The Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council (PHECC) made an unprompted voluntary declaration of €812,000 to the Revenue Commissioners. The issue arose on account of misclassifying the tax status of external assessors. A spokesperson for PHECC informed the Medical Independent (MI) that the Department of Health provided additional funding of €450,000 as part of addressing the tax liability. No further monies are due to Revenue arising from the matter. The Department...
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1 month ago | 
medicalindependent.ie | Catherine Reilly |Niamh Cahill |Priscilla Lynch |David Lynch
The use of €3.4 million from the sale of the Health Research Board’s (HRB) former premises is the subject of discussions between the Department of Health and the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform. The HRB sold its former premises on Lower Baggot Street, Dublin, in May 2023. The agency vacated the premises in 2014, when all staff relocated to a new leased building on Lower Mount Street, according to the HRB’s 2023 financial statements.
