Clear long-term planning for the State's hospital services was called for last night by the outgoing president of the Irish Medical Organisation. Dr Neil Brennan said this was one of the most important issues facing the health services and one which must be discussed by all involved, the Department of Health, health board managers, doctors, nurses, politicians and patients.
Dr Brennan said the row in the constituency of the Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, over the locating of cancer services in Tullamore or Portlaoise was a perfect example of an absence of such planning.
"In the absence of such long-term planning by those who should be doing it, local initiative laudably took over, only to find a plan belatedly proposed which will undo their several years' work. Nothing is more calculated to demoralise staff and annoy the public," said Dr Brennan, a consultant respiratory physician in Cork.
A new strategic plan for the hospital services might not meet with universal agreement, he said. But it would "allow everybody to see what the broad parameters are, what the targets for acute emergency service provision are, what the targets for speciality services are, what will be the role of GPs in relation to hospitals, what will be the medical staffing arrangements, what will be the balance between in-patient, day cases and out-patient services."
Dr Brennan said he remained concerned that the issues of training and manpower within the health services had not been comprehensively addressed by the relevant bodies, including the Department of Health.
"Adopting a plus ca change attitude is simply not enough, and I would hope the IMO will continue to work to produce a satisfactory national plan in this area.".
Looking back on the new consultant contract negotiated during the year, Dr Brennan said the consultants' position was weakened because the IMO and the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association did not co-operate more.
"If and when it comes to the next consultant contract negotiations, I would urge that a cohesive policy be sorted out before the talks open. It might be too much to hope that consultants would be reunited in one professional body by then, but one should live in hope.".