Tipperary children missing out on vital care as paediatrician 'begs for more rooms'
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Children in Tipperary are missing out on vital paediatric care with a consultant warning she only holds two clinics a month due to space pressures despite “begging” for more rooms.
The Irish Hospital Consultants Association annual conference discussed many similar problems during a heated session with Health Minister Stephen Donnelly who defended his plans for increased productivity.
This is against a backdrop of Australian immigration figures showing 624 skilled visas granted to Irish doctors in the year up to June, “the highest number ever recorded” according to the IHCA annual report.
The paediatrician, speaking from the floor, described pressures facing young patients at Tipperary University Hospital.
“I run only two clinics per month because there is no space,” she said, adding: "management was lovely, saying ‘we will support you if you do it within the resources’”.
Her waiting times are "six to nine months" and she said: "I'm begging for another clinic but it's not possible."
She invited the minister to visit them in Clonmel.
Another consultant said she began work at University Hospital Galway in June having returned from a long stint abroad.
“My main concern is how productive you want me to be with no clinic space, no admin, no CNS (clinical nurse specialist) and no office,” she said.
Professor Gabrielle Colleran, IHCA president, sharing the stage with the minister, said this is typical of responses they received to a workforce survey.
“It is coming back to infrastructure and having the full team of supports," she said.
"Clearly there is a gap between the consultant experience and the funding the government are putting in and we have to look at why that is.”
She noted “grown-up politics” which saw funding improve to €25.7bn but said despite “some very good people in the HSE” questions remain about management of funds.
“I think we have a bloated middle-management in the HSE,” she said, saying some job descriptions are not clear.
“Actually if we wanted to really improve how to run our hospitals we would have fewer HSE managers who are paid better and we’d compete for some of the excellent people we see in the private sector.”
Mr Donnelly said: "You've got to have the tools to do your job obviously,” and agreed infrastructure improvements are needed.
However, he said in his experience while obstacles can include hospitals not managing the theatre space efficiently, he has also seen clinic rooms available “after 6pm or a Saturday” but not taken up by doctors.
“It has to work in both directions,” he said. “We have to do more but we have to get better at utilising what we have.”
He welcomed the growing return of Irish consultants from abroad since the new contract was introduced for doctors.
Out of 650 doctors who responded to the IHCA survey, 63% do not have the resources they need to do their job properly. Over three-quarters said they are “very often or always in firefighting mode”.
Despite the challenges 72% believe they are making a valuable contribution to patients’ quality of life.