Even casual followers of this blog will know in what regard I hold Ireland. I’m not going to list the country’s virtues here. But one would be blind not to see some of the blatant negatives. The political system is irredeemably corrupt – no one outside Irish politics will claim otherwise. Justice is haywire – people are locked up for not paying their TV licences whilst those businessmen who brought the country to its knees waltz free. Drugs use and associated gun crime is among the highest in Europe. Unemployment and emigration is rife. The Health Service is a basket case with sick people sitting on stairs waiting to be put on a trolley. The beds are taken by those for whom there aren’t enough care homes.
But wait. A good story. Good stories rarely make headlines. This post was sparked off by the remarkable Billie, an MS sufferer, blogging about confronting her mortality. Three weeks ago a dear friend of mine in Cork suffered a brain haemorrhage. She was rushed in for surgery. She well knew the possible consequences. One of the better outcomes would have been to end up like her brother who had similar surgery some years ago and who had to battle to regain a more or less normal life afterwards.
My friend was operated on in Cork University Hospital. Going into theatre she was well aware of her mortality and the possible outcomes. When she came around her first reaction were to move arms and legs and try out her voice. To her surprise and delight all appeared normal. After a week or so she was released into the care of her brother’s family, then eventually allowed home where her son keeps an eye on her.
Last night we spoke for the first time since this all happened. Her voice is strong and entirely normal. However she is constantly tired and has been told that a full recovery will take up to a year. Her teaching career is at an end, though retirement was coming up in any event.
So the story is that the Irish Health Service is still capable of performing wonders. My friend put her faith in the neurological surgeon and he came through for her – the system came through for her. Despite her tiredness and impatience to be more active she is pretty euphoric that she has dodged a bullet.
So I ought to remember – the Health Service is made up of individuals, often talented and dedicated, that are themselves victims of the infrastructure. Not every politician and judge is corrupt. The gunmen generally pot each other rather than innocents.
Those facts don’t sell papers though.
Back On The Rock 
Hi Roy, what a picture you paint of Ireland!!!!
As a medical sociologist and carer, I’ve had a lot of dealings with the health services here for more years than I care to remember. I’m delighted, but not a bit surprised, that your friend had a good experience in CUH. It seems that the major issue surrounds actually getting to hospital but once there the service tends to be rated very highly by ‘patients.’
From my personal experience, I would agree wholeheartedly that we must look at the health services personnel on their individual merits as well as in terms of the overall system. I have come across the full range, I would say, from excellent to dismal in terms of individual practitioners and really it seems that it is at ‘systems’ level that the problems are at their greatest. Many of the ‘dismal’ have become dismal because of the systems within which they work and equally many of the excellent are not getting the system’s support to allow their excellence to flow through in a co-ordinated way.
My heartfelt hope is that the recession, with all its pruning, will focus on the system and weed out those who need to be weeded out and give maximum support to those who are gifted practitioners but who, no doubt, are not being allowed/enabled to maximise their enormous potential.
Now, for a glass of red wine after that sermon!
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Thanks so much for your insight Jean. It’s a system that no one, or no government, seems capable of fixing. I wonder why that is? Thank the Lord for the good, talented and dedicated people battling within the system to provide the best care they can.
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What a lovely story, Roy. I’m so glad your friend’s surgery was successful. It’s unfortunate that we only hear about the awful procedures when it comes to hospitals, but for every stuff-up there are many more successes – but you’re right, that doesn’t sell papers.
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Thank you Dianne. As Jean ^^ says there are plenty of talented and caring professionals within the creaking system and it’s not always useful to speak in generalities. Sometimes it takes one incident close to us to remind ourselves of that.
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Thank you so much Roy for referring to myself and my own mortality. It feels good knowing that someone can relate to what I write.
I wholeheartedly agree with you. Our government is corrupt, although not as much as our previous ones. Fianna Fail should be locked up, or at least banned from sitting in the Dail, even if they are in opposition. What they created 10 years ago was even worse than before, they cushioned the big bosses of the HSE while they didn’t have a single clue of how to run a health department or health services. In fact, my first dealings with Ireland’s health services was shortly after having moved to Ireland, when I needed to have my appendix removed in James Connolly Memorial Hospital in Blanchardstown. While a brand new hospital was ready to be used, it was empty as they couldn’t find enough doctors and nurses (not totally sure if that was the real reason though). I was put in a room of 6, despite having private insurance that would allow me the use of a single room, and the showers were absolutely disgusting and smelled of mould. Eventually I checked myself out because a) I couldn’t sleep in a room where 5 other people were snoring like mad and b) I was not going to shower where mould was present. One nurse said she totally understood why I wanted to go home to my own bed and clean bathroom. The issue was that yes, the health department realized that Blanchardstown needed a bigger hospital, but to leave it standing empty for years. Shock and horror as this would not happen abroad.
Luckily (if I can use that term) enough, when I went in just before my MS diagnosis, the new hospital was finally open to patients. What a difference. Finally decent surroundings and clean bathrooms 🙂
What I do have to add though, despite the bad environment in the old hospital buildings, nurses and doctors were stunning and would have moved the earth and beyond to make you comfortable. Same still today. The core of what health services should be like is absolutely amazing, and they are the ones working in the trenches of the HSE war. The doctors and nurses are still as helpful and amazing as 10 years ago when I had my first encounter with Irish health services. Like you say, talented and dedicated individuals are victims themselves of a totally corrupt and shameful HSE.
I’ve been lobbying for better neurological services for both MS Ireland and the NAI. Last year I felt hard done by by what I thought was a neurologist who just didn’t care. I failed to see that she was a victim herself after hearing her talk in Leinster House (I was there with MS Ireland for the Neurological Alliance of Ireland talk). When I heard my neurologist say that we should be angry at the state of neurology (after all, it’s about our brains and possible severe disabilities) and she spoke so passionately about what neuro patients deserve and how we should address the government. I had failed to see that it was not my own neuro who didn’t care, it was the system that pushed her into a service that is hard to maintain (wrote about it in this post if you don’t mind me referring to it: http://willeke73.wordpress.com/2013/03/01/the-sorry-state-of-irish-neurology/).
Sorry for the long reply here but lobbying for better neurological services and for MS patients is what drives me these days. I don’t have an Irish passport, I am still a citizen of Belgium but Ireland is where I was always meant to be, and where I would be able to use my voice. I am glad I am given a platform to do so and to link in with other people to push our government forward. Long may it continue I dare say 😀
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Thank you Billie for that great insight. Yes I read your earlier post about neurological services and felt I had to throw at least one good experience out there. It’s disgusting that, when the money was there in the Tiger years, the health service continued to deteriorate. No votes in it that’s why. And whilst the politicians all have private health insurance they will continue not to care about the population at large. Thank the Lord for those saints working within the system that continue to rise above it.
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You would wonder where all the money went to during the Celtic Tiger years. Not surprised if the HSE management were sitting comfortably in their leather desk chairs, having fancy lunches and diners on the backs for people working hard for their money.
Last year I also lobbied for new MS medication to be released. While the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics said that Gilenya was cost-effective and should be released to people with relapsing/remitting MS, the HSE said it was too expensive at €23000 per year.per patient. But while Gilenya (and new meds for people with skin cancer) was not allowed, Viagra was (also blogged about). Now that got me on my high horse alright 😀 Eventually after myself appearing in newspapers about it and the MS Society lobbying very hard, eventually the HSE said yes. You really would wonder what the HSE was thinking. If I’m correct Viagra has now been removed of the list of allowed meds on the medical card but it should never have been on that list in the first place. I’ve blogged in not-to-be-misunderstood terms about the HSE but there are people out there that deserve so much better.
Like you say, your friend’s experience is a very good one, and whenever I need my MS nurse, neuro, physio, GP or whomever, I know I will be look after. I would not get the same kind of friendly and caring support from Belgian doctors at all. I consider nurses of any kind living angels. While I blogged about the sorry state of neurology in Ireland, at the end of the day it’s like a war zone. Doctors and nurses in the trenches are giving everything they can. It’s the neurology system in the HSE that is wrong. And apologies once again for the long, passionate reply. I just want to see better services out there for people much worse off than I am.
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I didn’t know about the Viagra – that would have called for a blog post all right! Billie, like me your love for Ireland is evident. I hope that your passionate advocacy, together with the efforts of others, goes some way to bringing about some corrective actions. To say and do nothing is not an option.
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Wow I had no idea all of this was going on in Ireland. Again, this confirms how ignorant I am and how little I do know, despite hours of reading the news obsessively every day. This also confirms that social injustice, power abuse, greed— exist everywhere, even in Western Europe.
I know healthcare in Indonesia is also corrupt and cruel—doctors refuse to treat patients who aren’t covered or can’t pay. Even in medical universities, graduates-to-be are (often) not allowed to graduate if they don’t ‘contribute’ equipments or funding to the school. Who knows where the money actually goes, though.
Having lived in Belgium for nine years, I can say that healthcare here is simply stellar. Everything is done professionally, and with as little as €120 a year, my wife, my son and I all get anywhere between 50-90% of coverage on our medical expenses. But even here, there are always doctors who want to benefit from the system and overcharge for their services—thankfully, not blatantly so, and it’s restrained by the government.
The doctors are cordial, professional and don’t waste any time, maybe that’s why Billie said “I would not get the same kind of friendly and caring support from Belgian doctors at all.” Maybe they’re overworked? I once had a dentist who, after letting me wait forty minutes past my appointment time, asked what was wrong, checked my teeth, cleaned them, and left again—no chit-chat. Not all Belgian doctors are that detached, though.
The nurses are amazing, though. My son had difficulties eating once, and they were very patient with him, very caring and friendly. And I have a mild suspicion that they did more than their job description prescribed—all without visibly complaining, always a smile.
There’s always a reason to complain, and I agree, the good stuff doesn’t sell papers. (Although miracles and extraordinary tales of compassion usually do, albeit rarely.) But we can’t forget all the goodness that is going on, either. This post reminded me of that. And no matter how powerful those in power are, the people will always rise against injustice and corruption.
Thanks Roy and Billie for sharing your stories.
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Thank you Daniel for your insight. Indeed it is good to highlight some of the excellent work that goes on despite the ‘system’ whilst continuing to highlight the shortcomings. To do otherwise just gives you a name of an inveterate moaner (boy have we got plenty of them in Jersey :-)) who’s not able to see the good in anything or anybody.
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How did I miss this? I check wordpress reader most days…
Anyway, it`s a wonderful post. As you say, to sit and do nothing is not an option and blogging sure is one great way to give us a voice.
Wonderful to read your impassioned comments here too!
And to add my piece to the mix….
I hate to read of Ireland as corrupt and poorly serviced as you describe, Roy. I don`t know if I politicians are any more corrupt than they are anywhere else. Not at this point in time anyway. Sure they`re annoying and they`re full of false promises and there is a higher degree of narcissism and self interest in most politicians than in most other professions, in my opinion.
However, there are hardworking politicians there too. And everyone wasts at the very least, to leave the corrupt FF years behind and learn from Celtic Tiger times when our finances were so poorly managed and we were lied to up to the hilt.
Most of us are paying very dearly for that now.
But not all of us, of course.
In the past fifteen years I have had inevitable dealings with hospitals via sick relatives. No more than anyone else. And my insights aren`t as informed as you commenters. But I do have to say that each of those encounters have been positive experiences.
As you say, the good stories simply don`t make the news.
I love our country. Not saying any other country isn`t nicer or better run but for me, the positives about life here outweigh the challenges we face in living here.
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Thanks for that thoughtful response RH. My opinion remains that all politicians play the power game but in the UK (for example) there are much better checks and balances. Anyway I’m not going to rant on politics – there are people who know much more about it. It’s just that I love Ireland, have an Irish passport and hate it when things aren’t as they should be.
I’m very happy to highlight the good things going on in the Health Service. During the Tiger years Ireland could have built one to lead the world but, as you say, it all went horribly wrong.
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Glad to see the good and sad to see that it unfortunately not the norm. I don’t know where we start to fix this. I watched my Dad die in a system of wonderful caregivers that had their hands tied behind their backs while trying to create miracles. All they can manage to do right now is treat the effects of disease and no time to find the cause and love the patient through the process.
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Thanks Lisa. Maybe our expectations are too great these days. Maybe it’s the case that the great advances in technology together with today’s culture of dependency creates a demand that is unrealistic. Whatever, it ain’t working properly and thank God for all the dedicated health care workers that give of their best.
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I’m glad to hear that your friend’s surgery went well! I smiled a bit when I read: “Drugs use and associated gun crime is among the highest in Europe.” I imagine it’s nowhere near as high as it is in the US! I was pleased to see my local guns and ammo store go out of business, though. As for our health system, even when Obamacare goes into effect in Jan 2014, there will be many people who will fall through the cracks.
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Hi AMB. Whereas guns have become part of the landscape in the US it it still pretty rare in Europe. There is a familiarity with weaponry in Ireland though via the old paramilitary organisations but at least it is mainly confined to the underworld. The Obamacare initiative is a huge advance isn’t it? Maybe its beyond anybody’s power to adequately provide care for absolutely everyone, though that should be the ultimate aim.
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Yes, Obamacare is a huge advance in comparison to our current system. Its opponents calls it “Obamacare” pejoratively, but I like the term (and I support health care reform).
The issue is that it was a political compromise, and so certain vital pieces of coverage won’t exist even to the extent they do now (such as coverage for abortion care, which most private health insurance plans cover now but won’t, depending on the state, once the new insurance marketplaces are up and running in January).
There are also issues with coverage for those with low incomes. States have too much power over this issue, and my state is probably the only one in the northeast to reject expansion of our medicaid program to cover individuals with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty line. That means lots of people in my state will be forced to buy health insurance in the new marketplace (previously called “the exchange”), which should be more affordable than private individual insurance is now (and there will be subsidies), but is still probably too expensive for those who otherwise would’ve qualified for the expansion (if we had one). It was our governor’s decision to reject the expansion. He’s the worst governor Pennsylvania has had in my lifetime (and we’ve had some terrible governors!).
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Interesting indeed. What happens AMB if someone is seriously ill or injured and has no insurance at all. Surely there is some basic care?
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Well, right now, people go to emergency rooms and hope that the hospital doesn’t bill them. It’s awful. With Obamacare, more people will have insurance for preventive and emergency care.
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Ouch! At least here you’ll get free emergency treatment. You pay to visit your GP, you’ll need to wait for non-urgent procedures and you won’t get a fancy private room but basic care is free for all.
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Well said, Roy. I’m so glad your friend came out of the surgery so well, and is on the road to recovery, with a son to look after her.
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Thanks so much Naomi. It could have been very much worse and has certainly encouraged me to count my blessings rather than fault-find, which is lazy and easy.
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Glad your friend was able to come through on the breathing side! I have a good friend in Ireland who is a both surgeon and a Jungian sandplay therapist – he went through his own years of struggle with prostrate cancer a decade ago in Toronto. Now he’s ‘one of the good guys’ helping with the healing. Too bad about the gun violence. We should throw them all in the Irish sea. The guns, that is 🙂
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Thank you for your thoughts Bruce. Three months down the line she’s improving day by day and feeling very fortunate.
I had to look up the Jungian sandplay 🙂 But good to hear another good news story. There ARE some though occasionally hard to find.
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