According to Shane Ross, Simon Harris is going to âkick assâ when he meets the head of the HSE today. Somehow I donât think that Simon Harris knows how to kick. The head of the HSE will run rings around him.
Expect lots of âactionâ, âcommitteesâ, âsteering groupsâ & âplansâ
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Yeah that happens for sure, but in medicine itâs not unique to the public sector. The private sector has the same dynamic. Itâs a unique feature of the medical profession generally. The authority of expertise obviously has to be respected but that has to be balanced by stakeholder interests. In medicine, decisions that are clearly to the contrary of the general welfare are taken all the time because the professional guild is often untouchable. It is closed off to public influence in a unique way.
Which as a matter of public policy is indefensible. No user group in any sector is as intensely focused on the service than the sufferers of serious illness. Obviously the passengers canât fly the plane, so to speak. But patient groups are generally extremely well informed about the condition itself, and are acutely aware of the economic limitations on what is possible. Their input is not only desirable itâs essential if you are to have a health system that is ran for the patients and not the doctors.
The health service is very well funded apparently. Itâs where the money goes thatâs the problem. Close to 80% of HSE total cost goes on wages/salaries. NHS is something like 60% We pay over the odds for medications. It leaves little money for actual health care. There are more middle managers in the HSE than GPâs in this country. If you increase investment, front line services will get last dibs on it. Too many grubby hands in the pot.
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Oh ffs
Ireland spends a fortune on health.
Ask yourself why it requires two people in Vincentâs public to operate some machines but one in the Blackrock clinic?
Ask yourself why someone will receive a Union sanction for doing something slightly outside the T&Cs of their employment.
Itâs a system not run for the users, but the people who work there. âSocial partnershipâ was pure bribery to Unions. Fuck all reform delivered but the mugs paying taxes in this country paid for it.
That 13 billion isnât ours, but even if used, would be pissed up the wall just as quickly as it comes into the government coffers. Maybe if we did actually get it though, the government could get some actuaries in to value the public sector pension hole this country is in and we could finally put it on our books.
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arenât you a blueshirt?
The TFK way 
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Our little lad had to spend a night in Wexford general before Xmas to be observed with bronchiolitis in a cubicle the size of a toilet cubicle in a pub with Mrs Mac sleeping on the ground underneath the cot. Thankfully we have VHI through work so the costs were covered. The notice came last week that they had covered the costs of âŹ1,100.
How the fuck it cost that much is beyond me. 350 of the fee was the consultants charge. He saw us for all of 4 mins and did his level best to talk us into going home for the night as the child would âprobablyâ be OK. The rest of the fee was for the overnight accommodation and nurses (1) cost.
I know they charge over the top for medical services but this seemed like complete overkill. I can only assume that insurance companies are being burdened with costs to save the government a few quid. But madness if this money goes to pay the wages of HSE people.
So itâs wrong to grift your insurance? Just checkingâŚ
Huh?
Her quotes about Helen McEntee amused me.
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I got a good laugh from this.
Nor does she believe Lowry gets anything from Kenny or others for his support.
âIâd be very surprised. He is a terribly â the Taoiseach I am talking about now â honourable person.â
She also does mug off McEntee in a lovely way.
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McEntee is a microcosm of everything thatâs wrong with Irish politics.
Yeah you are paying twice. It is a scam as that care should be free to you as you get nothing you would not get as a public patient.
Although in USA a guy I know received a bill for 1m dollars for twenty nights in hospital. Doctor fees were extra. Insurance company ânegotiatedâ 85% discount and paid the rest with him paying 200 dollars.
I was diving with a lad in Egypt who ripped his lungs (long story) Anyhow he had to do 4 days in decompression. His final hospital bill was 110,000 sterling, which, heâd have had to pay himself had the absolutely fantastic military doctor not glossed over our dive profile (I gave him the watches when we went in as your man was quite literally half dead)
McEntee is seething
Sheâs is the archetypal coffin surfer. She has no place in government.
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Any response quotes from her?