Politics is bad for our Health says top doctor
Lack of support is ‘destructive’
THE eminent doctor whose radical cancer plan helped to save countless lives in Ireland has slammed the ‘destructive’ influence of our politicians on the Health service.
Renowned international oncologist Dr Tom Keane told the Irish Mail on Sunday that major change cannot happen without support from the top.
He said: ‘We are talking about a public system, so it requires essentially Government support. Major change can’t happen without being led politically. If there isn’t political support
‘Then we do something different next year’
for change it won’t happen, or if it’s only transient support that evaporates within a year it’s destructive.’
He told how a minister will make a change but then ‘suddenly, we’re doing something different next year’.
He added: ‘Whatever action plan is taken on, needs to be sustained over a period of time.’
There have been three health ministers in the past three years, all with different priorities.
For instance, a new model of Universal Health Insurance was announced in 2011 by then minister James Reilly, but subsequently abandoned by his successor Leo Varadkar in 2015, shortly before last year’s election.
Dr Keane also said Ireland needs to move beyond the all-too-expensive hospital model of health service.
He said: ‘I think the consensus would be that Ireland is too hospital-centric, and hospital care is the most expensive form of care you can provide. If you have a whole load of people in hospital beds who don’t need to be there, they are receiving care that is hugely expensive when a better and more acceptable alternative is available. There are opportunities for us to be smarter about how we spend money. A day in hospital in Ireland is shockingly expensive, you could go to a five-star hotel for far less.’
Dr Keane was the first head of the successful cancer programme which radically improved how cancer patients are treated in Ireland. From Dublin originally, he spent much of his career in Canada where he is now retired. This week he was in Dublin to launch a Royal College of Physicians’ report on the future of healthcare in Ireland. The former director of the national cancer programme said political support was vital to the success of the programme, and it might have folded otherwise.