COMMENT: ‘HSE more poorly organised than services in war-torn Iraq, Serbia’

At times like this, when a media storm threatens to engulf a story, it is vital to seek out expert opinion to get a sober, reasoned analysis of the true extent of the problem.

At the launch of the Hiqa report into the Portlaoise crisis, Prof Martin Turner gave reporters just that.

A governance expert who has worked as a management consultant for departments of health in Iraq, Kazakhstan, and Serbia, and who has also headed up the NHS in Wales and the Adelaide health service in Australia, he has first-hand knowledge of a range of medical scenarios both at home and abroad.