Too much ‘dissing’ of Irish health service going on, says Simon Harris

There is too much negativity surrounding the health service in Ireland, Minister for Health Simon Harris has said.

Speaking at the launch of a survey on attitudes to health services in Ireland, Mr Harris contrasted the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), to Ireland.

The British were “discerning enough” to separate what was good about their health service in comparison to Ireland, he suggested.

“When was it decided that it was OK to diss everything that is good about the Irish health care system?” he asked.

“If we are to move forward we need to acknowledge the positive outputs that we have, as we also recognise things that we need to address.”

My Healthcare, My Future, commissioned by the pharmaceutical company MSD, found almost as many Irish people are optimistic about the future of the healthcare service (39 per cent) as are pessimistic (40 per cent).

Mr Harris said highlighting the good work of the health service does not let politicians off the hook, but, instead, acknowledges the role played by frontline staff in maintaining the service.

He praised the RTÉ documentary Keeping Ireland Alive which followed frontline staff in the HSE for a day.

“What we saw in the RTÉ documentary was shining a spotlight on the great work that is being done in the Irish health service,” he said.

“We need to believe in this country that we can succeed in this area. It is not beyond us as a country to have a world-class health sector. We need to snap out of this space.”

The research was carried out by Ipsos MRBI among a representative sample of the population and medical professionals.

The survey found a clear bias among Irish people towards being treated by GPs or pharmacists (93 per cent) rather having to visit a hospital.

Some 80 per cent were willing to visit their local pharmacist rather than a GP for minor medical matters.

It also found that people have a positive attitude towards both GPs (86 per cent) and pharmacists (82 per cent).

The question of respect also figured prominently with those who were surveyed. Some 86 per cent rated it as very important.

Speaking at the launch, HSE director-general Tony O’Brien revealed that a third of the staff in the health service, or some 36,000 workers, have no digital identity and therefore no email address.

Mr O’Brien said most of those without a digital identity work in community care settings. He said a “universal digital identifier” for each worker in the HSE was taking “far too long”.

He pledged that by December 23rd, all HSE staff will have an email address.