IMO President - “We need clear statement from Government that significant additional investment will be made in our public health services. Diverting funds to the private sector is not the solution.”

The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has strongly criticised the response of the HSE to the trolley crisis in Irish hospitals.   Speaking today, Dr. John Duddy, President of the IMO said that the response was “too little, too late”.  Dr. Duddy described the proposed increase in bed numbers of 63 as an “insult” given the hundreds of patients currently on trolleys.  Dr. Duddy also criticised the proposed use of private hospital beds to resolve the issue; “even short term investment in private hospitals diverts vital resources from public hospitals.  This kind of thinking does not address the underlying problem and ensures the problems we are dealing with this month will recur.”

Dr. Duddy also called for a statement from Government that clearly demonstrates that our health services need to be protected and supported.  The three key areas to tackle are:

• The 1600 beds lost in recent years need to be put back into the system.  There is no need for another review of bed capacity when it is obvious to all that we simply do not have enough to meet rising demand
• Immediately engage on retaining Irish trained doctors in the system  The current toxic situation is only driving more doctors away.  Under these circumstances we have no hope of keeping doctors working in Ireland.
• Commit to funding for a new GP Contract which will allow the shift to GP Care in the community.  Investment now is guaranteed to improve patient outcomes and make savings in the future.

Dr. Duddy in the said that the current crisis merely brought to national attention to an underlying chaos in our health services “We are failing to provide adequate services to our patients, we are haemorrhaging doctors and if this continues the current crisis will recur and will be worse in 2017.”