IMO warns Ireland’s health services ‘at critical point’

Patient safety is being compromised across the health services as a result of successive budgetary cuts in recent years, the Irish Medical Organisation has warned.

Professionals in the health services now believe the situation is at a critical point, according to IMO president Professor Trevor Duffy.

“I think everyone in health has watched with frustration in recent months at how the debate on the health budget is seen almost like a spectator sport by the political class when it is actually a matter of life or death for many people in the system,” Prof Duffy said at the launch of the organisation’s pre-Budget submission.

“We are close to a point where the damage to the infrastructure of our health services will be so great that it will take decades to repair and we simply can’t bequeath this crisis to the next generation. We must act now.”

The IMO says the Government must take five steps to protect patient safety, starting with an increase in funding and staffing across all sectors. It must ensure any cost containment measures are rigorously assessed against risk to patient safety before commencement.

The union also wants GP care to be introduced based on income levels and medical need, together with chronic disease care packages. Co-payment models such as the €2.50 prescription charge should be abandoned because they are “proven to be detrimental to long-term health and disproportionately affect the most vulnerable in society”.

Prof Duffy said young doctors and established GPs and consultants were leaving the country out of frustration. “We need to decide now if we want to be part of a society that provides a health system which can offer the people of this country the kind of world-class care that they expect or if we are going to settle for a fractured service that is detrimental to the long term health of our nation.”