Personal view of a combined, Public and Private, healthservice in Ireland

by Jack Russell - Social Justice and Ethics Thu Nov 15, 2007 19:41

What has happened? We have research, we have computers, we excellence supposedly in our professional staff, we have people like Niamh Brennan and the Brennan Report, we have the Hannon Report

and basically we are in retreat in our health provision?

I thought accountancy basics is about Cost Benefit Analysis.

Why is nobody arriving at the point? Have listening skills deteriorated so much that real enlivened communication exists no longer. Think of the commitment of people like Noel Browne, think of people Dr. Kathleen Lynn - who was a member of Cuman na Mban and involved with women like the Countess Marvickwicz and Maud Gonne.

Think of the contribution of nuns to the establishment of hospitals like the Mater, Vincents, the Lourdes and their work in the Third. World. These were centres of excellence in their day for public and private patients. What about the contingent of medical students in the 1940'/s and 50's who left Ireland and returned with expertise? What about the consultants in our hospitals now who have trained and worked in the US, both in public and in private, why are they being choked off, from attaining the excellence within the Irish System of Health.

Is the point so in our face?

Perhaps it is nobody has made the decision whether our service ought to be like the embattled NHS service or if it should be funded by health insurance policies? Cost benefit analysis ought to be precise so why the bureaucracy/management weed........?

Kevin T. Walsh

by Michelle Clarke - Social Justice and Ethics Sat Nov 17, 2007 20:34

The Guests at Fitzroy House, Raglan Road are Former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hilary, hoping to the be elected.

I wonder what Mrs. Hilary Clinton's position is on health?

The US of health is devisive - those who have are catered for but those who have not circa 50% - the underclass.....drift on and survive if you can but not at a cost to the Creme of Society, the privileged.

Ireland. Where are we going? What position do we want to take? We need to start asking the basic question and making decisions fast.....

Looking at the Irish Times today - I note that the Health Service Managements has rejected the claims of Hospital Consultants of basic Euros 250,000 p.a. 'Management say the salaries are out of range'.

The equation is say Hours - overtime paid or do a deal via higher salary.....

Money is a motivator and discontent destroys conciliation and the proper running and service of hospitals and the vital needs they support.

What concerns me about the medical profession is the secrecy that they promote.......yes, we all need secrecy but when you have a situation in medicine with increased suicide rates, then someone must ask questions about the cause? Durkheim, Sociologist looked at Anomie, boredom in terms of suicide........something within causes a disillusion and we must be honest that we lose medical professionals to suicide, and others take illegal substances for mood alteration, and then there is alcohol addiction. Is it not time to start getting to the root of these problems......Do management understand? Dr. Maurice Nelligan, a man of acumen, experience and ability whose daughter died recently. I often watch Would you Believe on a Sunday night at 10.00 p.m. It gives me great hope that such a man is taking the time to speak about medicine and life tomorrow evening.

Michelle

Goethe
'What we do not know, we do not understand'

or

T.S. Eliot
'We had the experience but we lost the meaing'

Religion is insufficient to maintain morale, ethics, sense of purpose, we need more, we need philosophy. What about making decisions about what we want for the plain people of Ireland.....I would suggest a free health service like the NHS but gradiations to the objective of Free Health for All......

Would you

by Michelle Clarke - Social Justice and Ethics Wed Nov 21, 2007 18:30

On behalf of the Plain people of Ireland, and their right to follow the money....ie the money that is spent on Health and Public Services by our elected Government.

Buses of people arrived from Sligo today (Yeat's country) are protesting at the gates of Dail Eireann for the restoration of Cancer Services in Sligo. They, like so many other people throughout Ireland, are subject to random hit and miss care by our Department of Health..........It is not acceptable.

Dr. Keane, Cardiologist of Renown, emigrant to Canada is to arrive back to a specially created post in Ireland, with a two year deadline. The Prime Time programme last night highlighted his Planning, Development and Management skills for the public health service in Canada. Multi-disciplinary teams, preventative cancer screening for women over 40, free treatment, and up-to-date functional and community health care provision for the people in British Colombia. It was interesting to listen to his colleagues, a lot of Irish descent, speak with acclaim of his capabilities.

Well, last chance........Mary Harney P.D., Have you pulled the Trick from the Hat? I really hope so, for the plain people of Ireland and you, as I feel you would never wish for the disaster to have occurred in health, and that you do value people, by virtue of the fact you are in Politics.

Mr. Keane, we welcome you. 8 Centres of Excellence for our population of 4.5 million i.e. the same as you allocation for the similar population in British Columbia. I hope that your mind is focused through your experience that like cutting a cake with a knife, you will make a sharp impact into the unnecessary bureaucracy that stifles professionalism and care. You have the advantage and that is experience, practice, planning and motivation.....I hope you are facilitated with funding and support. Most of all I hope you can restore the trust of people in our medical system. Trust is essential particularly for people who are ill, and their families.

Your colleague, eloquently said that he had no doubts about your ability to undertake this position in our Health Service but he said he hope that you received the necessary co-operation and empowerment to complete the tast unimpeded. I too hope this will be the case.

One Tip: Excuse the arrogance: Can we not decide what system of health we want people to have. You know how public health provision works successfully in Canada, and I know what the NHS is like from living in England. Personally, I believe all people ought to have access at the point of entry to health and medicine ought to be proactive with research and patients, pariticularly those with long term health problems e.g. neurological/psychiatric. Consultant posts vacant at this time in these two areas are awesome......it is not acceptable.

The Daily Mail and an interesting headline 'Hundreds set to sue hospitals over MRSA superbug'

Litigation and people taking action......It may not be while they are in throes of illness but if they live, or in the case of family, there is no alternative in the absence of a health system to address negligence and infection. MRSA is one bug, there are others also. Don't foget the elderly and those of us with low immuno systems eg. ME, addictions, Bulimia, mental illness etc.........

Mr. Keane......WE wish you success. We hope the Government commits the funds to our Health system and the Canadian route is followed of free public health.

Tonight unfortunately another error has been made in relation to two Irish women. They were told they had the all clear a year ago and now they are in the sad position of the Susie Long RIP - a Stoic, faced with imminent death. Please take care of the men as well.

Michelle Clarke

Quotation: The same applies to peoples health and lives

Checks and Balances
'Its not people who aren't credit worth. Its banks (Governments) that aren't people worthy.
Muhammad Yunus, Contemporary Bangladeshi economist and founder of the Grameen Bank'

by Michelle Clarke - Social Justice and Ethics Thu Dec 20, 2007 17:32

The reason......the State has not provided the elderly with care. Where can they go.....to whom. What are the social services actually doing for people. More ashamedly, the state fails to provide for psychiatric care......a needy category who are vulnerable and find it difficult to COMMUNICATE WITH THE SYSTEM...Well done, to those who spoke on behalf of mental illness, on the Joe Duffy show this week.

We know that a man is involved in the violent murder of another young man, about to marry. He used a shears and used it supposedly in excess of 80 times, leaving the deceased body in such a state of brutality, that the parents, his fiance or friends could not visit his body.

Why? Because nobody pays heed to the experiences of people of mental health services in Ireland. Committees are formed and people of academic experience convene, write reports, have views that are way too narrow and are no way representative of an integrated approach. Knowledge is no load but knowledge appears to be inhibited in Ireland by Snobbery and Greed.

I have written a considerable amount about my experience of public psychiatric and I have a claim pending in the Irish Medical Council. Medically, I have not got the stamina to pursue this case yet morally I feel I must make myself proceed. The junior psychiatrist is not necessarily at fault, it is more the supposedly multi-dimension health services provider who ought to take the rap. The Bureaucracy hopes that the like of me, will just keep on struggling, present else where and they can continue in their mundane regime of no initiative for the mentally ill.....and let this include those with addiction problems......There is so much duplicity and non connection even in one Building of a Large Hospital.

Who bares the Shame to have turned away this man from Vincent's Hospital - recently extended, renovated and a superb A&E i.e. if you are not a psychiatric case and no psychiatrist is on duty......Not the HSE......it is have a facelift under the name Health Quality section. The nurses - I don't think so - psychiatric cases need special handling and without files, risk abounds.

Why do the research reports ignore alcohol and its impact on a person with a mental health label. Do people realise that once you take the medications, you, the patient basically contract to comply with the consultant psychiatrist to a) not take any alcohol, or b) to ensure to take your medications as prescribed at the times stated. This is common sense but yet people are human and take risks and hope they stay on course. This issue needs to be taken on board seriously via a form of education on an ongoing basis.

Then, the man, a father, was turned away from the other main hospital, St. James Psychiatric section. In all this man was sufficiently alert to know he was heading into a danger cycle of mental health and 3 Times he was turned away from our major hospitals in Dublin. IN A SPAN OF ONE WEEK.

Again I ask, why so much surprise when people commit suicide. I am not talking about the support that exists like the Samaritans who are excellent. I want to know why a person who has in depth knowledge of their own sanity, can be turned away from the Psychiatric Services that exist now......a shadow investment made by Government on say 10 or 20 years ago.

All it says is We have no Hope, We are not entitled to a chance in life and to Follow the Money, we are most likely from the Group of People in Ireland that are known as the Plain People of Ireland - those people who have paid tax and who falter on the tightrope.

I have heard that there as many a 63 vacancies for over 300 psychiatric posts. Have I missed out on something, is psychiatric going out of fashion. Surely not.......I am hearing a lot about the Central Mental Hospital.....Psychiatry.

To the Minister for Health - Mary Harney.......They say the baby who shouts loudest gets fed...........Well, I am saying, Stigma, Ignorance, Non provision of full-time services.....is not about a baby being fed this time, it is about a young man, in the prime of his life, being butchered, by a man who tried to gain help three times at our leading hospitals in the prior week.

Think of all the lives affected this Christmas. Remove Stigma, for God's sake, and get educated and motivated to tackle mental health and addictions.

A thought
Think of those elderly people who are referred to as bed blockers listening to all the 'blame talk' on the radio. Why........do these people deserve the treatment they are receiving from the state? How do we handle the situation? Why have we not got carers to go to the homes? I think of one person and feel useless...

Michelle Clarke

by Michelle Clarke - Social Justice and Ethics Sat Jan 05, 2008 01:07

2008 is upon us, let us look at our health service in a most effective and efficient way.......There have to be options......Especially in the A & E.

The man who approached three hospital (main hospitals in Dublin) who was turned awy on no less than 3 times. We ask the expert Committee to focus on these casualities of the mental nature that ought not ever half.

We need funds, we need visionaries, with an ability to demand funds and increase services. I don't think we need any more research reports from Trinity - when do these stop. There is enough.

by Michelle Clarke - Social Justice and Ethics Mon Jan 07, 2008 20:33

Thank you Derek and Team

At long last there is some coverage about about debilitating neurological illness - and even recognised as such by the World Health Organisation.

Once an illness is neurological, it appears that our Health Boards, Medical Profession, Universities, Public Health systems become enveloped by the Irish disease called denial..................and those who are vulnerable, badly debilitated for years on end, with no capacity to work, are put out to pasture and worse again made feel guilty for just having no energy.

I would suggest that Derek Mooney Show on this topic is listened to by people who are negligent to the needs of a newly forming under class.

It is now known that Acquired Brain Injury is linked to Chronic Fatigue/ME. Do people really take on board how many ABI's are happening in this country via car smashes (young people); falls on building sites; and worst again the crime in our city. Where is the Research? Are people afraid that lazy people might choose to mask our problems to gain disability or sympathy, even inheritance. If so, enlighten yourself from your ignorance.

Is the destiny of these people cast aside in favour of Corruption for those survivors?

Neurological is neglected in this country. We are 2nd from the bottom in Europe. Where are the Philantropic funds - mental illness and neurological need money badly. They deserve it, they have something to offer.

As a person with Chronic Fatigue, with the state of our hospitals now, with MRSI etc., I am at risk when I go to have my 4 weekly injections to check on Lithium levels. As for the needed visit for a check up, we this is not a practical idea.

I have a Jack Russell and he is my waking life, of which there isn't a lot. Over the years I have stretched the distance to the local coffee shop. The pubs in the D4 area asked me to leave because they don't accept dogs.....this sums up the attitudes of the Celtic Tigers.........they have lost kindness, compassion and even empathy.

Ireland is about an up and coming Underclass......We the people of Ireland, who pay taxes, have a viewpoint and ought to form part of the society.

Michelle Clarke
Quotation

Franklin D. Rooosevelt 1882 - 1945 US Presidence (NB poor health)
The Stuff of a Dictatorship
'True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made'

by Michelle Clarke - Social Justice and Ethics Tue Jan 08, 2008 16:48

yes.....................FOR THE REST OF YOU LIFE'........

This afternoon: Derek Mooney afternoon show. The Lightening Therapy in the context of Chronic Fatigue and ME and the interview yesterday in this regard, has led to the necessary contention, to ensure that Ireland redresses this life long most debilitating illness.

Dr. Charles Sheppard, UK, is over in Ireland at the moment and agreed to speek with Derek Mooney on today's programme. He has written a book on the subject in the 1980's and has ME. He caught 'chicken pox' from a patient and then got ME.

Two ends of the spectrum......one where there is no triggering event and fatigue but really no diagnosis as say people who have had glandular fever, or other known causes. This means that treatment in turn is still subject to research and covers a broad spectrum. He himself has given up on the medication route and applied a signigicant change in lifestyle. He stated that there are many treatments suggested for example the article in the Daily Mail today is to treat CFS/ME with Thyroid......in the US there are a wide variety of treatments involving diet, vitamins, etc.
A lot of supposed solutions to a very vulnerable group of people. The man interviewed yesterday a publican with 4 children, had spent Euros 40,000.

For the Medical profession, the issue is there is no proper clinical trial.

The lightening programme suggested yesterday on the Derek Mooney show according to Dr. Sheppard, has no defined parameters, and people who take it can relapse into Chronic Fatigue or ME.

Vast treatments are out there but as a Doctor, involved in research, he feels he has a reponsibility to warn people about the pros and cons of these treatments.

Can we say that the process that works for one, will work for every one? No, we cannot. People, like Dr. Sheppard therefore would be skeptical about these findings given that Medical Research positive findings would be most likely be awarded the Nobel prize!

Dr. Sheppard went on to say that the Lightening Treatment process on the website, is endorsed to the degree that it is nearly franchised. The promotion is clear that it is aimed at ME as well as Chronic Fatigue.

Dr. Charles Sheppard still has ME hence his curiousity and continued trials to find answers. There is no treatment for the underlying cause, but there is for the symptoms. He does refer to the more holistic area but just a suggestion and a suggestion to try it out. In the NHS, holistic treatment is provided.

Get Lifestyle balance in order. It is not about exercise to get out of it or gym but at the same time it is not to stay in bed. Get symptoms under control. Grade a recovery on a balance of activity and rest is what he suggests. There is a wide spectrum of severity with this illness. He said the term 'Yuppie Flu' was a media description and has no relevance but that it is said some people and medical people continue to think of it in this way.

Dr. Sheppard hopes this has raised the whole profile of Chronic Fatigue and MS in Ireland. He has heard from colleagues that GP's in Ireland still fail to recognise this illness and there are a group of patients who are house bound and even bed.

This could relate to Burn Out; it could relate to War Fatigue as it did with Doctors, in the Royal Marsden hospital in the 1950's; it could lie at the basis of an addiction craving. Who knows? But just because we fall out of Society, don't ignore as!!!

Well done to all on the Derek Mooney show ..... and their selection of this Topic.

by Michelle Clarke - Social Justice and Ethics Thu Jan 17, 2008 21:56

Perhaps there are too many pleas via our media; in particular the Joe Duffy show and others who vent the wraught emotions of those who either suffer or are the carers of those who suffer at the hands of our Department of Health and for Children Ministry, the HSE, the medical profession, the nursing profession, and support associations established by Charities (those are used by Government to prop up the health services at an upwardly mobile pace).

Today - yet again, we hear to mayhem in a psychiatric unit in St. Anne's - Limerick Hospital. When will this stop? Who listens? Where are the services? Where is the responsibility?

The fight is about money between Consultants and what the Govt. say they can afford. Meantime, a bureaucratic mayhem reigns and in the tangle created people, workers with potential and creativity are being stifled and bullied and what we lack is a 'Patch Adams' approach to mental health and rehabilitative services.

Personally, my experience is nothing short of detrimental from public psychiatric services. I have written before on this subject and my words were to the effect 'They ask why people commit suicide, I SAY WHY NOT WITH THE PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICES. We have no weekend services other than A and E........if we become psychotic etc.

'I delegate' is too popular. There is a need for focus, motivation and centres of excellence ought to be expected for people with all medical/psychological problems. Holistic treatment is provided for by the NHS in the UK. We need a multi-disciplinary approach.

Today, in a hospital two people have been attacked, one is in a fatal condition, by a patient. Several weeks ago, a young man died when he received over 80 stab wounds from a man who had sought help in 3 major hospitals (mental health) and was turned away.

Dr. Casey, whom I am sure you are all aware of, from her media coverage, articles, and being Consultant Psychiatrist in the Mater public spoke on the 6 O'Clock news. Shame is all I can say. 4 weeks ago, 4 consultants, including Dr. Casey, wrote to the HSE about the Chronic situation that has emerged in mental health services.

Today, she was quite overwhelmed as she prepared to speak on the 6 p.m. news on RTE 1 and gained the additional news of the near fatal incidents in the psychiatric unit of Limerick Hospital. She was shocked. The first report is dating back to 1984 with the last report - a Vision for Change, that was published only two years ago. What is going on? Other countries cope surely!!!

What about 'us'. Those of us who are willing to try and forge an identity iwith an already stigmatised illness? Why is the psychiatric public system such an archaic monolith determined to diminish further human beings who are ill. Why are there no secure beds and how could it be that people are turned away from St. Brendan's (Grangegorman as it used to be called) because there are no staff. On the subject of staff, I heard recently that there are 67 vacancies for public psychiatric posts.....Could this be so????

A staffing shortage is unacceptable today in Ireland. To think of an emegency situation, as described by Dr. Casey, where a person enters A&E in the evening, having complicated their diagnosis with either illegal drugs or alcohol, causing them to be 'out of control' and in need of a bed. I cannot believe a drop down policy of having no provision of staff is to hire a private nurse to supervise the patient and then rely on the security men, if the situation is unmanageable.

This week, would depress a saint and it sure has depressed me. To hear of a Mum, a Psychiatrist, with depression and anxiety and fear for her daughter who she felt was developing Anorexia too plead Insanity. Let's get real, we are human, fear is the driver of anxiety and the outcome - who knows! Some serious consideration must be given. We know in the UK that as they closed down the hospitals that a number of the former patients drifted into the homeless situation. Community Services are vital.

Then we hear the people with Cystic Fibrosis - and no facilities, no secure areas for them either.

Then we hear of elderly people in a Hospital and complaints having been made several years ago, about the conditions - some had their mouths bounds....to keep them quiet.....all hidden away. Stop I say.....I do not wish to be aged in a Home, with government with a lien on my assets, and me with no control over those who are supposed to care for me. Let me take another route please.....

Then we have the issue of Chronic Fatigue/ME dealt with on the radio. A UK doctor phoned the following day to state how debilitating this illness is and how it is neglected by the medical profession here. I know......I have battled this since 2003.....the same time as I started writing to the Minister for Health....and now it appears with so many others and in particular with those young people with Cystic Fibrosis.

What is the policy in this country? Illnesses that are long term, terminal, non glamour illness, being aged, having a mental illness, or suffering from neurological conditions.......Is it policy that we are no hopers and like alcoholics, homeless, drug addicts.......we are nothing but an underclass to be locked away in secrecy...........People must look for answers and stop the research that keeps people in smug jobs, no commitments to fodder, high salaries, lots of perks and trips abroad. Time to get thinking and realistic.

For me to write this letter takes up 1 hour of the hours that my body operates in the whole day ---- others who are shouting out for help know what I am speaking about........Please listen.

I am tired of the Mental Health Commission not acknowledging my letters. I am appalled at the attitude of the NDA. Both these bodies are within 10 minutes walk but when you have had aphasis and comprehension is a problem ....... I now realise that it is 'they' who do not understand......

Michelle Clarke

by Michelle Clarke - Social Justice and Ethics Tue Oct 21, 2008 14:57

I have just read through the foregoing articles which chronicles medicine not just in terms of being elderly, but more importantly in terms of being socially isolated in an over bureacratic health system, that causes fear to those who are unable to participate with the appointed organs and wufflers of the state and medical profession.

I started writing to Minister Mary Harney and so many others in 2003 when my health began to falter between neurological and psychiatric labels, this was further complicated by ME. I moved location to Dublin 4 and when I sought to get a doctor, to get my psychiatric drugs, each doctor in the area was booked out due to the fact that the Government had just granted medical cards to the elderly. What had happened is that the HSE provided the cards for the elderly with a bonus amount to the doctor and others younger, long terms health problems, were left exposed. The Community Nurse was due to be the co-ordinator but this does not work particularly if people are reticent.

Primary Care is essential if one needs multi-disciplinary care, which is a human right. These people also need to be treated with dignity, not just moved around a Balance Sheet that saves money for the Government. There are three reports over the last decade and it is a split between the IMC and the appointed HSE. I encountered worrisome treatment at a public psychiatric hospital - a shameful attitude among staff. All I had energy for was to write a few complaint letters. I was insufficiently well enough to proceed with the formality of the IMC yet the Consultant Psychiatrist had access to a number of legal people. It went on over a year but you see the system is loaded against you.....a patient. I had to find the money to move to a private Psychiatrist.

What about the psychiatric patients, those with neurological illnesses, the chronic diseases, public health cases, drug addiction, alcohol addiction....................Potentially removing these from medical lists is fruitless. We need more investment in the rehabilitation and given the strength of the elderly over the last three days, they could easily work alongside these more vulnerable.

I remember the 1970's, the Dispensary practices all over the country, in the cities and in the Towns. Doctors worked often without a practice nurse, or without a secretary. The hours were long but then I would presume from memory people were a lot poorer. This means that primary care has in effect being losing funds as payments to the doctors... I think this was a point made by a female doctor on the Today Tonight Show last night.

We have to compensate for the Budget. We all must take responsibility. The elderly must take account of the vulnerable young. There should be enough elasticity in the system that exceptions can be made and all people treated if needs be. Personal responsibility is the one way out now. Ireland miscalculated and we owe lots of money.

Note that there is competitive Advantage in VHI cover now - we have Bupa, Quinn Direct. It is for these private health cost bodies to promote a sense of morality as to how they compensate people who attend Hospital. I would suggest that if people gave up say the VHI when they got the medical card, then the VHI should re-open the opportunity.

One more point......with acquired brain injury, I can assure you paperwork and concentration is extremely difficult. The idea of a probate form for the elderly is unfair and unjust. It is like asking a vulnerable person to submit a probate form before they died so that it can be checked off against their later will. The state is too intrusive where people are ill and vulnerable. Social workers and the like are too busy asking questions without understanding trauma, lack of understanding, shock and fear.

There are options and people brighter than me can work them out. Look to the banks and what they face: They could go to the wall, there could be a merger and acquisition (lots of jobs lost), take-overs. We are going to suffer the impact so let us not be too selfish.

Alan Shatter made some good points. I can remember one. Medications are prescribed through the health service doctors. The pharmaceutical companies basically determine price and profit margin to the HSE. We all know it is high. Alan Shatter suggested that generic drugs be used. This would result in a substantial reduction.

Also, what about Community Services and the elderly. Then there are the homeless.

Michelle

by Michelle Clarke - Social Justice and Ethics Sat Feb 28, 2009 19:04

I have been away........to Tallaght Hospital that I had forgotten existed......

12 days away and the outcome of a diagnosis honing around ABI, Anxiety, Chronic Fatigue, Bipolar, medicated etc no doubt.

.The many young student doctors, Irish and from abroad, the consultants, the nurses, the managers, the trolley men, the chefs, the tea ladies.......I know so many more.....the support of your fellow patients.

Lithium poisoned my blood.....but the answers were found and thank you.

I hope we can fund a uniservality of health

Michelle

by Michelle Clarke - Social Justice and Ethics: Dignity Tue Apr 14, 2009 19:15

Enda Kenny, Fine Gael leader, has indicated, that Health will be give priority and that the Party are reviewing the Dutch System of Universality of Health.

In the meantime, President Obama has said, that they will not be looking to the Canadian Universality system of Health.

Inspiration, Vision, a Model system to follow all invoke a sense of change proposed.

The Health Supplement attached to the Irish Times newspaper every Tuesday, can often contain articles of interest.

Today, Muiris Houston (Medical Matters) has written about a new dimension to Medicine (one which I strongly advocate to people encountering mental, ABI, Lithium alert, Chronic Fatigue etc......etc....) IT IS CALLED BIBLIOTHERAPY.......(as Dr. Houston writes, it might not suit all people but there will not be a long list of side effects........)

Definition:- 'The use of reading material for therapeutic purposes.......it is based on the concept that reading is a healing experience.

This approach is especially well developed - GP's, psychiatrists, psychologists often recommend certain books......(I have benefitted greatly from recommendations and often pass on books to others who are in need).

The Journal of the Irish College of General Practitioners - a publication last year
Elaine Martin and Fiona Liddy, psychologtists noted that the 'bibliotherapy might therefore be considered as an adjunct to, an occasionally as an alternative to, traditional treatment in cases of mild to moderate mental health conditions'.

Recommendations
Dublin North Innner City Book Prescription Scheme, which started in 2007 and through which doctors in the area prescribed appropriate books.

The 'Power of Words' is a collaboration between the ICGP's, the HSE and the Library Council..............personally, having years of problems reading, I found it beneficial to read and look for positive quotations that endorsed how I felt. I used to type them and keep a copy of a mix in my bag.....

This makes medicine more inclusive and ranks the knoweldge of the patient as a worthwhile contribution.

I looked up the Dutch system of universality of Medicine.

What an interesting site - well worth consulting........Ireland must pave the way fwd as a knowledge economy.......the internet is the tool or more appropriately the telescope for the exploration........that makes change possible.

Consult: website Dutch/Swiss universality of health cover

www.sciencedaily.com/2009/releases

by Visitor - Citizen journalism promotion Mon Jun 21, 2010 15:58

Does anyone think there is a total mismatch in reporting by the media. You listen to RTE news and watch the TV and read the newspapers and all that is portrayed is the negative impact to our health system; the myriad of inadequacies, much of which is covered in the foregoing postings. The views of Accident and Emergency trolleys indicate expectation.

Today's Irish times covers mental health and its need for priority. It is now 5 years since the supposed Blueprint from Government to MODERNISE mental health services and in the meantime the supposed property landbank i.e. including the properties of St. Itas, St. Brendan's etc. has devalued by near 100% and that is if the properties are even marketable.

All we seem to hear about these days are Awards that our hospitals receive and yes those Centres of Excellence. Well the community hospital in Dublin 4 is no recipient of such awards. It is a crying disgrace and yet it is in the same locality as the Mental Health Commission; the Health Research Board; etc.

Malcolm R. Garland MD, Senior Lecturer in Psychiatry, Royal College of Surgeons writes to the Irish Times Editor today: The title is re-inventing 'asylum' buildings. His first line mentions the Mental Health Commission's statutory powers to order the closures of St. Brendan's, St. Ita's and St. Senans and he refers to the inhumane conditions people are contained within in these hospitals. However he asks the poignant question? 'Are we throwing out the baby with the bath water'. I say yes because we have no community services for the people we release from these inhumane hospitals at a community level. We have wasted time, money, potential, resources just neglecting our most vulnerable members in society - yes those diagnosed with a mental illness, those who at times need periods in hospital to regain a balance in their existence, are hounded further by Society.

This is of significance to me today. I was in a public hospital a decade ago because I needed a haven. I was in a ward and all I really recall was the friendship of an elderly former teacher. I had been in hospital for months and the day I was leaving Eleanor, distressed gave me a hug as I said good bye and gave her and the others in my ward a bar of chocolate. To this day I stand ashamed but I did what I could. She told me what she planned to do. I listened and I even pleaded with her not to hurt her family, her children. I told the nurses who continually take notes. (avoid contact and engage in functional administration) and I left the hospital and that day so did Eleanor. She did as she told me and her body was found in the river.

I came out to family and friends and a degree of understanding but what about others? What about when your family tires of your bipolar or dystonia episodes. Mr. Garland is right to ask in today's Irish Times where are the replacement acute units for people with mental health problems (add to this people who have addictions, phobias, social anxiety, young people who give up school due to anxiety problems). Mr. Garland may have a good point about the locations of these hospitals and their link to nature.

The last line must ring out to those who look so weary when they talk about mental health i.e.

Minister for State Mr. Moloney (who at least has the courage to appear on the Vincent Browne TV3 show.....)
Dr. Siobhan Barry, College of Psychiatry of Ireland
Mr. Hugh Kane, the Mental Health Commission
Mr. Rogan, St. Brendans
and Mr. Garland, of course........'Is a small cramped admission unit with little or no access to outside space the best place to recover one's mental health? Can we transform it into a place of Vibrancy, Dignity and Recovery?

Discrimination and stigma says no. The funds were supposed to have been ring-fenced but the evidence suggests otherwise!

Yet I had occasion to go to Harold's Cross Hospital on several occasions this week. Here is a facility that is a Centre of Excellence. There is a large building with bold print stating Education and Research on the Grounds (a source of inspiration for a person with a life time diagnosis).

The standards are beyond belief. Each ward after another is spotless. There is a rest room with views to the grounds. The literature abounds about Arthritis and how best to engage in palliative care, physiotherapy, counselling etc. There is an Oratory. The staff are approachable and pleasant. But then this is not a stigmatised illness. There is HOPE.

I applaud the standards but what really concerned me was the lack of patients. If one was doing a cost benefit analysis one would reckon that spatial to person had an underlying profit factor for the Architects, Engineers, Developers etc.

When I called at the weekend. My friend was gone but then so was everyone in the ward and the other wards; they were parceled out nicely for the weekends and all that remained were the staff. My friend was transferred to the main building to a room and again he had staff surrounding him but no patients.

To all in Government: It is time to look at quality and space utilisation revolving around the potential and actual care of people. I read the web page for the consultant based at St. Vincents and I note that there is a waiting list in excess of 5,000. What is the problem? Is this about private care in a public hospital or what is it?

Mental health is vital and it is extremely important to have community services in place and acute units when the need demands. We call for a referendum for children but in the meantime we are leaving children open to vice, suicide, being murdered etc.

Add to this the conditions in the Central Mental Hospital......where is the hope?