Sign up now for ease of access to The Medical Independent, Ireland’s most frequently published medical newspaper, delivering award-winning news and investigative reporting.
Established in 2010, along with its sister publication The Medical Independent, our stated aim is to investigate and analyse the major issues affecting healthcare and the medical profession in Ireland. The Medical Independent has won a number of awards for its investigative journalism, and its stories are frequently picked up by national digital, broadcast and print media. The Medical Independent is published by GreenCross Publishing.
Address: Top Floor, 111 Rathmines Road Lr, Dublin 6
Tel: 353 (01) 441 0024
GreenCross Publishing is owned by Graham Cooke.
The CEO of the National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH) in Dún Laoghaire told its board he was “extremely concerned” about “unresolved” staffing deficits raised with the HSE since 2016.
At a board meeting on 29 July, CEO Mr Derek Greene said the greatest risk to providing safe and appropriate care to NRH patients was “our staffing levels”.
An NRH spokesperson told the Medical Independent the original workforce planning document submitted in 2016 was for approximately 125 posts across clinical and support services. The HSE asked for this figure to be “prioritised” and it was revised to approximately 65 clinical posts at a cost of about €5 million.
This was “further prioritised” with the HSE to approximately 35 clinical posts and “to date, we have received approximately 17 of these posts”, according to the NRH. The cost was in the region of €1.9 million.
“As a tertiary rehabilitation centre and provider of complex specialist rehabilitation, the adequate level of intensity of patient services is vital to deliver the quality, safe and appropriate treatment programmes required by our patient population,” said the NRH’s spokesperson.
“Following consultation with the HSE, it has been necessary for the NRH to reduce its existing bed capacity by four beds to enable the hospital to provide a safe and appropriate level of care to patients from within existing resources.
“In January 2016, a detailed workforce planning document was submitted to the HSE for the additional staffing required to ensure that NRH beds, given their scarcity, should be fully available at all times. This submission is still under ongoing consideration by the HSE.”
According to the hospital’s 2018 annual report, the brain injury waiting list of more than 230 patients for 56 rehabilitation beds had resulted in “long delays in admission”.
The national screening advisory committee (NSAC) is progressing “the development of a methodology...
New GPs should be prepared for the practicalities and business aspects of running a practice, according...
The ICGP is examining alternative pathways for entry into general practice training as part of efforts...
In December, the HSE released part of an external review into the case of 'Brandon', a...
The evidence on doctor burnout “should scare us and concern us”, the Director of the RCSI...
A review of public health governance structures and addressing “longstanding” IT infrastructure...
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.