State’s low healthcare rating ‘no surprise’

OPPOSITION politicians have described as “no surprise” a survey of healthcare in 26 European countries which ranks Ireland second from the bottom for quality of healthcare services.

Fine Gael health spokesperson Dr Liam Twomey said he was not surprised at the finding that patient access to specialists was poor, given the shortage of consultants in Ireland. However, allowing direct access would cause our healthcare system to collapse, he said.

“We are not like France or Germany where they have a large number of consultants. If patients here had direct access, it would crash the system. We have 29,000 people waiting to see a specialist. At least, by going first to their GP, he can prioritise who needs urgent care.”