Three lessons politicians can learn from our leading medics
IT’S not long ago Fine Gael was planning to abolish the HSE. Nowadays, they are falling over themselves to praise the HSE for its tireless efforts during the pandemic. While we may not have a world-beating vaccination programme, our health service has managed better than many others across the globe.
The notoriously bureaucratic HSE set up testing sites, a tracing system, took over private hospitals briefly and is in the process of vaccinating the entire population. All the while it is trying to look after people who succumb to the many and various other illnesses beyond Covid.
The HSE also makes up a significant portion of the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet).
Not since Jack Charlton and the Irish soccer team returned from Italia 90 has there been a more popular group of people in this country than Nphet. More than eight out of 10 people believe chief medical officer Tony Holohan is doing a good job, according to an opinion poll this week. This compared with around four out of 10 who believe Taoiseach Micheál Martin is doing a good job.
As a country we put a lot of trust in our medics and scientists, which is a benefit during a pandemic. Less trust is put in our politicians and, it has to be said, our media.
There are three reasons why our health service leaders have more public support than those who govern us.
The first is they have under-promised and over-delivered. Whether it was procuring personal protective equipment or testing and tracing, they set targets low and easily beat them. Our politicians have reverted to this strategy over restrictions but up to this point it was very much a case of over-promise and under-deliver.
The second strategy, noticeably introduced by the HSE, is to be upfront when there is a cock-up. Its leaders have put their hands up on a number of occasions and admitted they got things wrong. Chief executive Paul Reid insisted on this policy since the first lockdown last year. “We have a deliberate strategy in place to front up when there’s a mistake, take the digs and move on,” a HSE source said.
The third element has been senior health officials getting the good news out there. Last Sunday, we had Nphet stats man Prof Philip Nolan announcing we would have an outdoor summer this year. Nolan clearly didn’t get the “Nphet advises, Cabinet decides” memo. He was out again on Thursday announcing the emergence of evidence showing vaccines are leading to a drop in new cases and deaths in nursing homes. HSE chief clinical officer Dr Colm Henry had earlier said the same thing.
It came after Micheál Martin, Leo Varadkar and Eamon Ryan announced a less than ambitious plan for dealing with Covid over the coming months.
Mr Martin tried to trail some good news about hospitality reopening during the summer but was left with egg on his face when it didn’t materialise in his ‘Path Ahead’ plan. Instead, he announced an extension of Level 5 restrictions and some broad targets for vaccinating people.
There will hopefully be lots of good news to announce in the coming months and you can be sure Martin and Varadkar will want to get out ahead of the HSE and Nphet.