Health minister and Irish Medical Organisation continue to trade blows

THE row between the Health Minister and the main doctors' union escalated yesterday as both sides continued to trade criticisms.

President of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO), Dr James Reilly, accused Minister Micheál Martin of being "extremely disingenuous" in claiming the Primary Care Strategy (PCS) would be seen as a "significant watershed" in terms of primary care in the future.

"At the current rate of progress, it will take another 50 years to implement. It is altogether disingenuous to promise improvements which are not going to happen anytime soon," Dr Reilly said. He accused the Minister of a "breach of faith" claiming he had not lived up to his promises of investment in primary care. Dr Reilly also defended his decision to interrupt Mr Martin at a press conference on Wednesday as he was outlining progress made in implementing the PCS.

"He brought into question my credibility and expected me to sit there and take it on two separate occasions."

Mr Martin had claimed assertions by Dr Reilly on spending to date on the strategy were "flawed". Speaking on RTE's Morning Ireland yesterday, Mr Martin described Dr Reilly's actions at the press conference as "contrived" and said he "would not be losing any sleep over them".

However, Dr Reilly said his views that the PCS had not delivered were shared by many health board employees "who couldn't speak out but who equally believed they were being lead up the garden path".

Mr Martin said the IMO had been playing hardball for years on a whole range of issues and they had not engaged in the PCS. He also criticised the Irish Pharmaceutical Union (IPU), the representative body for 1,400 community pharmacists, for failing to engage in the 10 year plan. The core of the plan is the development of one-stop-shops for health professionals, including GPs, nurses, and occupational therapists. The Minister has confirmed he is looking at submissions for private investment in the one-stop-shops, which may include pharmacies. Yesterday, IPU president Dr Karl Hilton, said they had continuously raised concerns over health centres with pharmacies on site but had "so far been ignored".