Doctors ‘have lost confidence’ in health service

DOCTORS have lost confidence and trust in the management of the health service, the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has claimed.

Both health chiefs and politicians came under fire from the IMO during a press conference in Dublin yesterday.

IMO president Dr Paula Gilvarry said doctors could not be blamed for inadequate financial planning and any attempt to cut services in an effort to meet arbitrary budgetary targets should not be tolerated by anyone who works in the health service.

Dr Gilvarry said IMO members were frustrated and in despair at the way the health service was managed.

“The medical profession has lost confidence and trust in the management of the health service and this, we believe, is now spilling out among the public and the people who need the health service,” she said.

“It is not only tradition that doctors advocate for their patients and for better health services, it is also their responsibility. The Irish Medical Organisation will not shirk its duty in advocating on behalf of patients,” she said.

The IMO, which represents 6,000 consultants, general practitioners and doctors, will hold its annual general meeting in Killarney, Co Kerry, at the end of the month. The theme of the conference is, Advocacy — A Duty and a Responsibility, and during the meeting IMO members will debate more than 200 motions on issues such as suicide, mental health and drugs. The Health Service Executive’s (HSE) employment freeze will also be on the agenda. Incoming president Dr Martin Daly said it seemed the Government and the HSE were more concerned about reaching healthy budgets than they were about the health of patients. The IMO, however, would not be calling for the resignation of Health Minister Mary Harney and HSE chief executive Prof Brendan Drumm.

Both Ms Harney and Prof Drumm should be allowed to finish what they had started. “We cannot afford to waste any time in putting to right what is happening in our health service. I think we are in a crisis,” she said.

GPs are also angry at the National Cancer Screening Service’s failure to negotiate with the IMO on a contract for delivering the national cervical screening programme. In a draft contract, the screening service offered GPs a fee of €55 for each screening test. Women aged between 25 and 60 will be included in the national cervical screening programme that begins in July.

Dr Daly said that while the IMO would not obstruct the programme, it believed what was being proposed was unsustainable.