Latest news with #IrishHospitalConsultantsAssociation
Irish Examiner
13 hours ago
- Health
- Irish Examiner
Hospitals dashboard data must be seen in proper context, say consultants
Consultants have warned that Irish hospitals are facing 'a capacity crisis' and have argued system change is needed rather than focusing on any one profession. This is in response to the Department of Health's new productivity dashboard which went online on Thursday. Among the data made public for the first time is the number of out-patient appointments per consultant per year. The data shows this stood at 1,686 in 2016 when the workforce was 1,812 doctors. Last year this reached 1,216 and the workforce was 3,061 doctors. 'Proper context' The Irish Hospital Consultants Association said it welcomes the focus on transparency but called for 'proper context' to the figures. It said the OECD does not see the number of doctor consultations per person as a valid measure of productivity. The IHCA said: Consultations differ in complexity, duration and impact, and the metric fails to reflect the significant volume of care provided to hospital inpatients, as well as time spent on diagnostics, research, clinical governance and administration. It called for analysis to reflect outcomes not just the volume of patients. The doctors called for investment in 'diagnostic staff, modernised outpatient scheduling, faster turnaround for test results, and the expansion of multidisciplinary support teams'. They argued the problems are 'fundamentally a capacity crisis, not a productivity issue involving any one group of staff'. It added: 'We are absolutely committed to doing more, but we cannot do it alone.' The dashboard, which can be read on the Department of Health's website, also looks at individual hospital productivity. Department officials said they would not say 'there is one clear winner' among hospitals. They said however the analysis showed University Hospital Limerick, Connolly Hospital and Tallaght University Hospital were the best performers based on their starting positions. A graph with this data shows levels of investment, recruitment and care given excluding work in emergency departments between 2019 and 2024. This shows University Hospital Limerick had the greatest increase in activity at 36%, following a 43% increase in workforce and 58% increase in funding in those years. In that time also University Hospital Waterford saw an increase in activity of 17%, following also a 43% rise in staffing and 57% increase in spending. Cork University Hospital had an increase in activity of 13%, following a 64% increase in funding and 32% increase in staffing numbers during that time. • You will find a link to the hospitals dashboard on this page on the Department of Health website. Read More Online hospital dashboard lets public view a wealth of current Irish health data
Irish Daily Mirror
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Irish Daily Mirror
Government forced to change RPZ press release after confusion on rent resets
The Government was forced to edit a press release on the new Rent Pressure Zone legislation after causing confusion about when landlords can increase rents. The Government has been accused of being "all over the place" and "confused" on its rent control plans. In response, Taoiseach Micheál Martin accused the opposition of confusing the proposals and said he did not accept that they would lead to an increase in evictions and rent costs. The Government unveiled its Rent Pressure Zone (RPZ) reforms on Tuesday. RPZ legislation will remain in place and will limit the amount by which rents can be raised annually to two per cent. However, for new build apartments, these increases will be based on the rate of inflation. New six-year tenancies will be created and no-fault evictions will not be allowed during this time. If the tenant leaves voluntarily at any stage, both small and large landlords can increase the rent to market rates. They will also be able to increase them after the six-year period. However, there was confusion in Leinster House on Tuesday following a line in the press release on RPZ reform that said: "All landlords will have the right to reset rent where the rent is below market at the end of each six-year tenancy, unless a 'no fault eviction' occurs." The Government was later forced to amend this on its official website, to state that this only applied to tenancies created on or after March 1, 2026. As she pointed out the clean-up, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said that the announcement had been a "shambles". She said: "You are literally all over the place, confused by your own back-of-the-envelope proposal." She continued: "It was clear from the statement issued by [Housing] Minister [James] Browne at lunchtime that your plan is to allow all landlords to apply full market rent at the end of six-year tenancies. "This clearly meant people staying in an existing property signing a new tenancy agreement, along with people moving into a property for the first time. "Then you were caught out. So throughout the afternoon, you scrambled around denying that this was the case. "Then, sometime in the evening, somebody slipped off and bizarrely changed the press release of the department website with a new wording, a wording that changes nothing." Ms McDonald also said that there was "a very real danger" that the plan will "tighten" rental supply in the coming months, as landlords could delay putting properties back on the market to charge a higher rent from March next year. In response, the Taoiseach accused Ms McDonald of "bluff and bluster", which he said would contribute "nothing" to Ireland's housing supply. He said: "You're attacking all of this, and you're making absolutely false assertions, because all you are interested in is the politics of this. "How can I exploit the housing situation to gain electoral or political gain?" Elsewhere, the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) raised concerns today about how the RPZ changes will affect doctors. They said it will have a "detrimental impact" on healthcare workers, such as Junior Doctors, who are required to "relocate frequently throughout their training." They said that while it acknowledged the need to reform the rental sector, the IHCA believes the proposal to allow landlords to reset rents after a tenant leaves will "have the unintended consequence of making accommodation even more inaccessible for frontline medical staff."
