Doctors’ alliance vows to win back public trust

HEALTH chiefs have rejected suggestions that they have allowed public confidence in the health system to plummet by failing to promote the positive side of the services.

An alliance of GPs, hospital consultants and other doctors has pledged to win back public faith in the wake of the seemingly endless series of bad news stories that have emanated from the sector in recent years.

Consultant neurologist Dr Orla Hardiman one of the founders of the Doctors’

Alliance for a Better Healthcare System, said while there were obvious problems in the health service, it was important to put them into perspective.

“The patients that we see every day are losing confidence in the public health system when the reality is that it provides the best of care for the greatest number of people. We want to inform the debate. We want to tell the people that they can trust us,” she said.

Dr Hardiman said she felt the Health Service Executive (HSE) was failing to maintain public trust and should involve doctors more in policy making.

“The HSE is a very large organisation with a lot of internal problems and we feel they lose focus,” she said. A HSE spokeswoman said it was a matter for the doctors’ alliance to come up with proposals as to how they might assist the HSE but she added that the HSE worked hard at keeping the public involved and informed.

“For example, our daily A&E figures are on our website, as are the nursing home inspection reports. We have a commitment to communication with the public so that people know about the positive developments in services.”

Regional meetings of the doctors’ alliance are planned for the coming weeks and months, firstly for doctors and later for the general public. Dr Hardiman said it was hoped to make funding for the health service, and in particular investment in public hospitals, an election issue.

“There is a general sense of panic about the public health system. People think they will go into hospital, get MRSA and come out in a box when the reality is they will go in, get high quality treatment and come home better.”

The alliance has been greeted with scepticism among some officials at management level who believe doctors themselves are often guilty of fuelling public fears by going to the media with bad news stories.