(1).Did you know that in some hospitals patients who are obviously dying are let do so in the midst of all the other patients in the ward.I am not talking here about people who suddenly die, but people whose death is predictable and may take hours at a minimum and even longer.
It has been the practise in these cases to leave the dying person in the wards amongst the other patients, surround him/her with the curtains and nurse him until death.
This results in;-
(a). That person having no privacy as life ebbs away.
(b). The family /next of kin having very little privacy to say their farewells or say their prayers.
(c). Families having to conduct their vigils in whispers for fear of upsetting the other patients, being afraid to raise their voices to communicate with the dying patient.
(d). Dread being instilled into the other patients, who after all are not there because they are bursting with health,that they might be heading in that direction shortly and the discomfort endured by them during the process.
I don’t know why this practise is allowed to continue but to me it is barbaric.
It may be because the Health Services are so run down that some hospitals cannot afford decently equipped and staffed facilities to enable death with dignity.
I imply no culpability on the staff but consider that the practice should be stopped.
(2)During my interface with the health services I have had contact with many dedicated and kind non nationals who do excellent work. Nevertheless there should not be an overwhelmingly disproportionate number of non irish staff in hospitals. Like every culture, we Irish have certain national characteristics not immediately detectable to others but immediately understood by our compatriots. For example older people, and especially country people are not prone to complaint and in fact often downplay their discomfort and it can be difficult ,even for Irish people, to accurately assess their situation.
(3).The health service should be overwhelmingly public based, as it probably is and and should deliver the sort of service the Mater Private delivers and in as timely a fashion as that hospital does for its paying patients.
The service should service its patients “pauper to prince” to the same high standard.
(4)Consultant contracts should be renegotiated on the basis that all their work be public work at a salary of £180,000.00 and their numbers doubled.
(5)G.P.contracts should be be looked at again and be salary based and not “per item”. They should be subject to peer review every three years.
It appears to me desirable that newly qualified doctors should, if vacancies exist, be required to work for three years at the average industrial wage in order to reimburse the taxpayer for the the cost of education and training.
The funding to achieve these reforms could be got by the diversion of health insurance premiums currently paid by those who can afford them to a regulated body to scrutinise costs and keep contributions at affordable and reasonable levels. The body to have an inbuilt executive majority of non professionals with a grasp real world conditions and prices.
To cut down on administration costs and record keeping I would make citizens responsible for keeping their own medical records.
Each citizen would be given an indestructible container into would be placed all medical records relating to his treatment as it arises.He would take this with him personally and be responsible for its safety, presenting it as new treatments arise.
Of course special arrangements would have to be made for those not able to care for their own records, but this would not be insurmountable.
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