Union identifies social media and vaccine hesitancy as areas requiring public campaigns
The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has warned {that a} constant failure to correctly fund and useful resource the well being system has left it at a ‘important juncture’ and dealing with various persistent and worsening crises in medical staffing, mattress capability and infrastructure.
In its pre-Finances submission, the union stated that present HSE funding has not been adequate to adequately deal with the mattress capability and staffing ranges wanted to fulfill the calls for of a rising and ageing inhabitants with ever extra advanced wants.
Dr Denis McCauley, IMO president
“Many years of inadequate planning and funding in our well being system have left us at a important juncture,” stated IMO president Dr Denis McCauley. “In our hospitals, the system’s capability has not saved tempo with demand, leading to overcrowding, sufferers on trollies, and extended ready instances in emergency departments.
“Normal observe requires focused measures to assist medical doctors arrange and develop practices whereas a complete plan is required to extend the variety of consultants and non-consultant hospital physician (NCHD) coaching posts, consistent with workforce necessities, to ease the burden on overworked and burnt-out medical doctors – who’re doing their finest in extraordinarily troublesome situations.”
He added that various public well being campaigns had been wanted as pressing priorities, together with a well-funded public well being technique modelled on profitable ‘tobacco free’ insurance policies to fight the harms associated to social media; and a coordinated public well being marketing campaign to deal with vaccine hesitancy.
The IMO’s key calls in Finances 2025 embody:
- Earnings from non-public care in public hospitals to get replaced with exchequer funding;
- Adequately fund the Acute Hospital Mattress Capability Growth Plan;
- Funding in digital well being data and IT infrastructure
- Help the unbiased GP contractor mannequin, with helps for brand new GPs beginning a clinic, and tax incentives for them to develop their practices
- Improve the variety of consultants and coaching posts consistent with workforce necessities. The NCHD Taskforce beforehand advisable a goal ratio of 110 consultants per 100,000 of the inhabitants
- Improve the variety of NCHD postgraduate coaching posts to a minimal of 5,800-6,000
