IF THE Republic had dedicated stroke units in its hospitals, between 400 and 500 lives could be saved every year, the annual meeting of the IMO has heard.
Dr Ronan Collins, a consultant geriatrician at Dublin's Tallaght Hospital, said the record for caring for people with stroke was "truly appalling. It is a national disgrace we do not have stroke units in Ireland. We are well behind Britain, where 90 per cent of patients with an acute stroke are admitted to specialist stroke units".
Proposing a motion calling on the Health Service Executive to lift its recruitment ceiling to allow for the development of a stroke unit in every general hospital, Dr Collins said a soon to be published audit of stroke services would show that one-fifth of hospitals here lack the most basic ultrasound machines needed to establish the cause of an acute stroke.
Meanwhile on a separate motion, which received huge support, the conference demanded that cancer surgery services be retained at Mayo General Hospital and Sligo General Hospital until it can be proved better outcomes can be achieved by their provision elsewhere.
Dr Eleanor Fitzgerald, a GP in Mayo, said all GPs and consultants in the western region have full confidence in the services already provided to cancer patients by these hospitals.
"To cease providing these services would be a retrograde step and standards of care would be reduced to the community," she said.
Referring to a statement that had been issued by the manager of Mayo General conceding that the hospital would have to lose its cancer services, she said consultants in the hospital had not been consulted before it was issued and did not agree with it.
She added that 97 new cases of breast cancer were treated at Mayo General last year and these patients would now have to go to Galway without any mention of extra beds being provided for them there.
Several other motions were also passed by delegates yesterday, including one condemning the recent halving of funding for suicide-prevention services, another calling for special labels on alcohol sold at off-licences so that drink can be traced, and a number deploring the lack of progress on implementing new mental healthcare policy.