Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG

Tánaiste Joan Burton staff salaries up to €52k more than pay cap

   

Tánaiste Joan Burton has claimed there is nothing wrong with two of her senior advisers being paid up to €52,000 more than strict pay caps allow because the salaries are still lower than under previous governments.

The Labour leader was forced to defend the salaries of her chief of staff, Ed Brophy, and her economic adviser, Terry Quinn, after it emerged their pay packets, of €144,550 and €114,424, respectively, exceed the €92,672 ceiling set when the Coalition came to office.

The figures, revealed by Fianna Fáil social protection spokesman Willie O’Dea last night, show Mr Brophy is earning €51,878 more than the cut-off point introduced by the Government in 2011.

He joined Ms Burton’s backroom team in late 2011 as a special adviser on a €127,796 salary, before being promoted to the role of chief of staff in July 2014.

Mr Quinn, who joined as an economic adviser just after the Coalition came to power, is earning €21,752 more than pay-cap rates for special advisers allow.

Mr O’Dea said the figures “illustrate the hypocrisy” of the Government.

Describing the pay-cap breaches as “just another example of this Government saying one thing and then doing another”, Mr O’Dea said plans to reform pay are “in reality just another broken promise” and “galling” for people on social welfare.

A spokesman for Ms Burton last night said the high salaries are justified as Mr Brophy took a 33% pay cut when he came from the private sector and Mr Quinn’s salary is “exactly in line” with his pay level at the Central Bank, from which he was seconded in 2011.

The spokesman said the salaries are “still significantly less” than salaries under the Fianna Fáil-led coalition, “which spent enormous sums on themselves and advisers”.

The Coalition introduced the €92,672 pay cap in 2011 following adviser pay scandals that hit the previous administration. These included €5m for ex-taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s backroom team, including a 119% rise, to €229,918, for his programme manager Gerry Hickey between 1998 and 2009.

However, Fine Gael and Labour ministers have subsequently struggled to stay within the pay ceiling themselves. Environment Minister Alan Kelly, Finance Minister Michael Noonan, Communications Minister Alex White, and Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney all sought increases for advisers following the summer 2014 cabinet reshuffle.

Next government faces a health service crisis says I.M.O.

   

THE NEXT GOVERNMENT WILL INHERIT “A CRISIS OF ENORMOUS PROPORTIONS” IN THE HEALTH SERVICES, DOCTORS HAVE WARNED.

The Irish Medical Organisation has vowed to keep health at the forefront of the imminent general election campaign.

In a special new year statement, IMO president Dr Ray Walley said 2015 would be regarded as a year of acute crisis across the health services.

The health service was on its knees; patients were suffering unacceptably; crisis management was the order of the day and the morale of medical professionals was at an all-time low.

“Years of austerity have caused many problems across the country, but no section has suffered as much and for as long as the health services and the patients who depend on it,” said Dr Walley. The IMO chief said: “The new government will inherit a crisis of enormous proportions in this sector and must prioritise an urgent injection of resources if the system is not to collapse entirely.”

Dr Walley said there were four critical areas that the next Government must address.

• Afour-year investment programme across the health services;
• Sustained investment in bed capacity in hospitals, nursing homes and rehabilitative settings;
• A resourced modern GP service for those most in need of the delivery of chronic care;
• Asolution to the ongoing retention and recruitment of doctors.

Dr Walley said the current crisis was the inevitable consequence of years of austerity.

“Everything we warned about has come to pass,” he said. Successive health ministers had focussed on day-to-day crisis management rather than on long-term strategic planning.

“The promotion of different pay for people doing the same job, overcrowding in emergency departments, uncontrollable waiting lists for out-patients, the piling on of unresourced extra demands on general practice, and the widespread culling of hospital beds, have all contributed to the current crisis.”

Dr Walley was particularly critical of the “wasted distraction” — universal health insurance. It had served to move attention away from the health services and the urgent need for action.

He also believed there was an urgent need to change the focus of the debate on health services — that it was a drain on the nation’s resources.

“Investing in health services is an investment in our economy, our community and our society and is as critical to the recovery of this country and its people as any other investment in any sector of the economy,” said Dr Walley.

The National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP) said GPs should have commensurate rates of pay with hospital consultants — reflecting their expertise, training and responsibility.

Smoking in cars carrying children illegal from today in Ireland

   

NEW LAWS MAKING IT AN OFFENCE TO SMOKE IN ANY CAR CARRYING CHILDREN CAME INTO EFFECT AT MIDNIGHT.

IF CAUGHT, OFFENDERS FACE A FIXED FINE OF €100.

ASH Ireland has encourages people to give up smoking today, claiming that 100 people die each week in Ireland as a result of smoking.

The group, which aims to reduce the impact of tobacco on Irish society, is urging smokers to visit the quit.ie website and make a plan to give up smoking.

Chairperson of ASH Ireland, Dr Ross Morgan, said that initial research seems to indicate that e-cigarettes are marginally healthier than tobacco, but should not be seen as a long-term alternative.

“I’d encourage everybody who is a current smoker to stop smoking for their health, it’s the most important thing they could do,” he said.

“And for their pocket it’s going to be really important as well.

“And whatever mechanism and whatever helps them to do that, and if it’s an electronic cigarette, great, but I would say try to get off the electronic cigarette eventually as well.”

Alcohol link to obesity:

5 pints has same calories as 3 BURGERS

  

Alcoholic drinks should carry a calorie warning to fight obesity say experts.

Alcoholic drinks should display calorie counts to help fight the obesity epidemic, say many local councillors

Although the link between booze and cancer is known, people are ignorant that drink can make them fat, according to the Local Government Association.

Drinking five pints of beer at 4% strength over 24 hours is the equivalent of eating more than three burgers, which would take 90 minutes to run off.

And a bottle of wine – roughly four 175ml glasses – has the same calorie count as more than two burgers and would take longer than an hour to run off. So the LGA now wants breweries to put calorie counts on all bottles and cans.

Spokeswoman Izzi Seccombe, said: “Prevention is the only way to tackle obesity.”

Road deaths for 2015 in Ireland are second lowest in over half century

165 PEOPLE DIED ON STATE’S ROADS IN 2015, AND A FURTHER 74 IN THE NORTH

    

A total of 165 people died on the State’s roads in 2015 – the second lowest number since records began.

Some 165 people died on the State’s roads in 2015 – the second lowest number of road deaths since records began in 1959.

Provisional figures from the Road Safety Authority (RSA) show there were 165 fatalities during the year – 28 fewer than in 2014 and a total drop of 15 per cent.

There were 158 fatal collisions in 2015, a 12 per cent drop on the number in 2014.

The RSA said the significant decline reversed an upward trend in road deaths in 2013 (188) and 2014 (193).

“It is also the second lowest number of road deaths since recording began in 1959. The safest year was in 2012 when 162 lives were lost.”

Chief Supt Mark Curran of the Garda National Traffic Bureau welcomed the reduction in road deaths but noted that 20 people had died on Irish Roads in December, with 15 killed in the last two weeks alone.

He said this made it the worst December for road deaths since 2007.

• Man in his 70s dies after Westmeath car crash
• Male motorcyclist dies in collision in Co Galway
• Road traffic deaths in December approach record numbers

In Northern Ireland, there was also a drop in the number of road fatalities: from 79 in 2014 to 74 in 2015.

A total of 41 people were killed in incidents on rural roads compared with 21 deaths on urban roads. Twelve people died in motorway or dual carriageway incidents, according to the PSNI figures.

Thirty-four of those killed in the North were drivers, 17 were passengers, 19 pedestrians and four motorcyclists died in accidents.

Minister for Transport Paschal Donohoe said that while every death on the roads was “one death too many”, he hoped the figures for the Republic would reflect a return to the steady progress being made up to 2012 to make the roads safer for everybody.

“A reduction of 15 per cent in the number of fatalities is a positive development but the number of lives tragically lost, especially in recent weeks, reminds us that we must continue to focus on the most effective ways of reducing the number of deaths and serious injuries on our roads,” he said.

Mr Donohoe said he would be progressing legislation in January to tackle drug driving.

He asked that all motorists, cyclists and pedestrians play their part this year in making our roads as safe as they can be.

Chair of the RSA Liz O’Donnell said it was difficult to describe 2015 as a “success” when 165 people had died on the roads “and especially after the carnage we witnessed in the final weeks of year”.

“But the number of people being killed on the road is the only way we can measure success or failure – and it’s important that people know progress is being made and their efforts are making a difference,” she said.

“So, to put it simply, because road users took greater care on the road last year, they saved one life every two weeks compared to 2014. But we can save so many more lives – and my appeal to all road users is to make a pledge to practise more good road safety habits in 2016.

“I would also urge people to be extra vigilant over the next few weeks of anticipated bad weather and resultant flooding.”

Ms O’Donnell said it was important to acknowledge and thank those on the “front line” in road safety, including gardaí, ambulance and paramedic crews, fire brigade personnel, nurses, doctors and carers.

RSA chief executive Moyagh Murdock said the agency’s focus this year would be on the challenges posed by driver distraction, in particular mobile phone use, and “the consequences of this behaviour for vulnerable road users”.

How to help your company prepare for climate change in 2016

     

WITH THE PARIS AGREEMENT ON THE BOOKS NOW, IT IS TIME TO LOOK AT HOW CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS MITIGATION WILL IMPACT OUR BUSINESSES, AND HOW THEY CAN ADAPT

World leaders celebrate the adoption of a climate agreement during the Paris talks earlier this month.

As 2015 comes to a close, we can now look forward to starting a new year with a global climate change agreement that has been signed by 95% of the world’s governments. We’re equippedwith a multitude of reports that parse all of its endless details. But the deal leaves many companies with a big question: how can they continue to grow while cutting their environmental impacts in line with the new climate goals?

Several businesses have attempted to answer this question, but most have acknowledged that they won’t be able to significantly grow their efforts without strong policy support . With this in mind, it’s clear that the focus of business and governments must now shift from advocacy and cheerleading to implementation, whether that involves true funding of new product innovation or rolling out localized plans for sustainable development.

As we start our journey into 2016, climate change news will likely recede to make room for other headlines. But the initiatives outlined in the Paris agreement – which the International Energy Agency estimates will cost $16.5tn by 2030 – are likely to emerge as a critical tool for companies.

Among other things, they will enable planners to align their growth plans, assess their product portfolios, refine their innovation pipelines, redefine their key performance metrics and take stock of all the programs and processes needed to address these changes.

Hand in hand with these programs and processesis a big elephant in the room: cost mitigation. The White House projects that the incremental costs of an additional degree of warming will reach $700bn by 2030. And that’s a recurringyearly cost, not a one-time penalty.

Companies will likely bear the brunt of this expense. With that in mind, here are five key considerations to help clarify the breadth of the scope of this change – and how it is likely to affect business:

What can a global temperature rise of 1.5-2C mean for businesses?

A recurring theme at COP21’s business events was the growing awareness of climate science. Whether the people talking were CEOs, energy professionals or NGOs, they all displayed a rising consciousness of climate science.

Companies looking to weather climate change need to address this problem in scenario planning. They must ask where their suppliers live and operate, and what will happen to those regions if business continues as usual – or, alternately, if regulation intervenes.

They need to weigh whether it would be cheaper to find new partners or work with their current ones on adaptation tools and technologies. They need to address customer behavior and consider whether it will shift based on resource availability, weather conditions and new lifestyles. For those in the service industry, this translates into the need for a lot more knowledge. For example, accountants must brush up their sustainability accounting standards, doctors must now weave sustainability elements into the science of healthcare and cleaners must understand what components go into the products they use and what impact those can have on the environment.

Many of these service professionals will also need to address the issue of how best to continue to grow their businesses without harming the environment. For a bank, law firm or brick and mortar store, this could mean understanding how opening more branches, stores and offices could help open access for communities but potentially hurt the local environment through increased emissions caused by infrastructure, transportation, waste and other factors.

What is the potential cost of climate change?

From the dangerous levels of pollution in Delhi and Beijing to the haze in Indonesia and the water crisis in California, we’re already seeing financial impacts from climate change. These costs will extend across a range traditional economic indicators. For instance, warmer winter temperatures on the US East Coast are costing retailers money in sales of cold weather gear. Further south, Miami is facing serious infrastructural issues as its sea level rises – and, in response, it’s creating innovative financing models to tackle situations in which traditional funding won’t suffice.

Accounting for these unintended costs will give companies greater predictability and a surer path to growth, but doing so will also require broadening the scope of their accounting sheets and potentially attaching a price to every resource they consume. Some companies, like Microsoft, are already leading the way by adopting internal carbon pricing. (Microsoft says its program has reduced its emissions by 7.5m metric tons and saved it $10m per year.)

How will climate change impact a company’s valuation?

The financial services sector is refining its investment criteria and strategies to address climate change, and companies should take note of how these evaluations can impact their stock performance. It’s hardly coincidental thatGoldman Sachs and Citi both recently updated their respective environmental and social risk management policies to prominently incorporate climate and other environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) factors into their investment strategies. For that matter, it’s hardly surprising that Citi has also decided to reduce its coal lending.

With six of the largest US banks calling for a strong climate agreement earlier this year, chances are the trend towards embedding ESG metrics into investment criteria will continue. To successfully adapt to this change, companies will need to get their investor relations teams in the same room with their sustainability teams, risk management teams and their boards.

Do employees understand how climate change links to their business?

Amid a tsunami of news and information, awareness of the impacts of climate change is growing and deepening. Educating employees about the specifics of how climate change will affect their jobs will require consistent and deliberate outreach, opportunities for engagement, and informal and formal conversations at all levels.

It will become vital for workers to understand the links between planetary boundaries and a company’s product portfolio, between their decisions and the company’s future, and between consumer behavior and the company’s pipeline – same as above. Understanding how every element of your work can impact the natural environment and resulting social conditions.

It will become vital for workers to understand the links between planetary boundaries and a company’s product portfolio, between their decisions and the company’s future, and between consumer behavior and the company’s pipeline. They will need to understand how every element of their work can impact the natural environment and resulting social conditions. .

Do different departments talk to each other?

For companies hoping to adapt to climate change, communication between departments is vital. The investor relations team needs to connect with the marketing department so that they can communicate more cohesively on issues including ESG disclosure, sustainability stories and stock performance. The board of directors needs to link up with the chief financial officer so that corporate governance and business accounting stay aligned with new scorecards and demands for transparency – and so the CFO understands and recognizes these metrics of business performance.

The same goes for corporate philanthropy: it needs to move from a linear, foundation-led activity to one that aligns with the company’s business strategies. Doing so could help ensure that all of a company’s efforts – the sum of its collective action, including business and philanthropy – lead to clear, tangible impact on the world’s social and environmental conditions.

As for decision makers, they need to understand how climate change could impact their companies’ procurement policies and market growth so they can consider how best to adapt their companies’ structures and processes to these changes.

There’s a lot more to dig into of course, based on a company’s sector, industry, ambition and appetite. However, the inevitability of climate change has never been clearer. It’s no longer a question of if climate change is going to happen or why a company needs to prepare, but when it is coming, what its impacts are going to be and how a company plans to adapt. For many companies, it’s time to reach for a scratch pad and start plotting a new course. 

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG

Joan Burton now plans to increase PRSI to ease pressure on welfare budget cuts

 

Social Protection Minister Joan Burton is set to push for a PRSI hike, putting her on another collision course with Fine Gael.

The Labour Party deputy leader is also coming under renewed pressure to come up with a way to means-test social welfare benefits to take them off the wealthy.

Senior Fine Gael figures believe Ms Burton wants a PRSI hike, particularly on the self-employed, to reduce the amount of cuts she has to make in October’s Budget.

Joan Burton is already at odds with Fine Gael over her approach to the Budget. She is resisting the €400m target of cuts for her department.

Fine Gael ministers are furious with Ms Burton, blaming her for scaremongering over a cut to the old-age pension in a bid to reduce the target.

The Social Protection Minister will publish a report next month, which is expected to recommend changes to the social insurance system, including a hike in PRSI for the self-employed. The report by the advisory on tax and social welfare is currently being finalised.

The advisory group is known as the Mangan Group as it is chaired by barrister Ita Mangan.

Although a previous Mangan Group report on child benefit was left gathering dust for 18 months before being published, M/s Burton is expected to release the new report within weeks of receiving it – and in time for the Budget 2014 discussions.

The new report is expected to recommend a mandatory increase in PRSI payments for the self-employed from the current 4%, by up to 2%.

In return, the self-employed would receive long-term illness and disability payments.

The report will also seek to clarify who exactly is entitled to benefits and conclude that a high percentage of self-employed workers do qualify for jobseekers’ benefits.

“Is there going to be a PRSI hike? The report will set out recommendations,” a source close to M/s Burton said.

But any move to increase PRSI will be vehemently opposed by Fine Gael, which believes it will cost jobs and potentially close many small businesses.

“She wants to raise employer PRSI under the guise of reducing the State’s liability to the social insurance fund.

“It won’t happen and is acutely anti-jobs. Employers need all the cash they have for wage bills and to employ more people,” a government source said.

REVENUE: “That will just be resisted by Michael Noonan as anti-employment,” a Minister said.

And senior government figures also said any additional revenue from PRSI would not detract from the requirement to make the savings.

“All increases in tax and PRSI are counted towards revenue, not expenditure targets and cannot be used to reduce the €440m of spending cuts required from Social Protection,” a source said.

Last year, the Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore defended Joan Burton when she indicated she was in favour of increasing PRSI contributions made by employers and workers.

M/s Burton said at the time that the benefits paid far exceeded the contributions.

“It is clear to me that something has to give,” she said.

“We can either make a decision as a country to reduce the level of benefits that we wish people to have or else we can make a decision to properly fund those benefits both now and into the future,” she said last year.

The lengthy delays in developing a means-testing system for social welfare benefits are also causing tensions between Fine Gael and Joan Burton.

“The ministers want to reform through means-testing. Nobody would be giving out if the higher-paid were taxed on these benefits. That’s where you get your savings. She has been asked to reform the means-testing system. She has come up with every excuse imaginable.

“She’s working towards the end of next June, when she can get out of that department,” a senior government source said.

Irish college students rate ‘looking good’ as more important than their religion

  

LOOKING GOOD IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN RELIGION TO IRISH COLLEGE STUDENTS, ACCORDING TO A RECENT SURVEY.

The Student Marketing Network poll, conducted among 1,146 third-level students across the country over the last two weeks, students said that they regard ‘looking good’ (fifth) as being more important than ‘religious beliefs’ (sixth), with ‘friends and family’ topping the list of importance.

It also found that 57.8% claim to be Catholic, compared to 84.16% of the general population (Census 2011).

One in five students responded that they were Atheists.

The survey found that 2.2% of students are Church of Ireland/Protestant, compared to 2011 census figures of 2.81% in the general population.

Of the Catholic students surveyed, 61.5% said ‘Yes’ when asked if they take communion, only 32.2% believe that it is the body and blood of Christ.

When asked “Do you attend communal religious ceremonies and functions?” the highest response was ‘No’ at 61%, and those who responded ‘Yes’ mainly attend only 1-3 times a year.

When offered a number of choices for why students don’t follow a religion, the most popular response was that they ‘Don’t believe in the teachings’ (77.8%).

Some 45.2% of students only follow a religion because of their parents influence, yet 40% of the students who took our survey wouldn’t want their children to follow the same religion they were brought up with. Only 13.7% follow a religion due to a strong faith.

Only 11.7% said that they follow religious teachings in everyday life.

When asked how they would characterise their belief in God, only 37.5% state that they believe in God with the top response at 41.5% being that students are unsure if there is a God.

Our survey has revealed that the views of 78.7% students have been negatively affected with regard to how they perceive the Catholic Church after the scandals were uncovered.

The results of the survey show that 83.5% of the Irish students believe that abortion should be allowed in Ireland and 76.8% think that the Catholic Church has too much power in Ireland.

When we asked the students ‘Do religious beliefs have a place in society?’ 54% stated that they do not believe society needs the influence of religion and 65.6% of the students who took part in the survey do not believe that religion makes the world a better place.

Colman Byrne, Managing Director of Student Marketing Network and oxygen.ie and former two-term president of Union of Students Ireland, said: “ The survey brought up a lot of interesting information that people may have different views on but it certainly shows that there is a major disconnect between organised religion and young people in Ireland”.

“One thing is for certain, we all need to be aware of the rise in student Jedis among us, with 3.4% of our respondents claiming to be members of this monastic spiritual organisation. Maybe they’re on to something…May the force be with them!”

51.2% of those who took part in the survey were female, 48.8% were male.

Ryanair rejects pilot’s safety survey as a fabrication

 

AIRLINE PILOTS CALL ON IRISH AVIATION AUTHORITY TO INVESTIGATE SAFETY CULTURE

Ryanair pilots have called on the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) to investigate serious concerns they have about the airline’s safety culture.

Ryanair has dismissed as a “fabrication” a survey of more than 1,000 of the airline’s pilots regarding safety standards at the company.

Ryanair pilots have meanwhile called on the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) to investigate serious concerns they have about the airline’s safety culture.

More than 1,000 Ryanair captains and first officers took part in a survey conducted by the Ryanair Pilot Group (RPG).

It revealed that the overwhelming majority believe Ryanair does not have an open and transparent safety culture.

The pilot group claims to represents more than half of Ryanair’s senior flying personnel, but is not recognised by the airline.

Ryanair has this evening dismissed the survey as a “fabrication”.

Ryanair spokesman Robin Kiely said the RPG is a front for the European Cockpit Association (ECA) which represents pilots that fly with rival airlines.

It said the chairman of the Ryanair Pilot Group, Evert van Zwol, is a KLM pilot and a recent president of the Dutch Pilot Trade Union.

Mr Kiely added: “A so called ‘survey’ fabricated by these ECA pilot unions, which does not have access to or contactwith the entire 3,000-plus pilots employed by Ryanair, lacks any independence, objectivity or reliability.”

The survey was “another failed attempt” by ECA pilot unions to use “non-existent safety concerns to advance their 25-year failed campaign to win union recognition in Ryanair”.

The IAA said it did not rely on surveys carried out by pilot groups “which often tend to be motivated by industrial relations issues or employment issues”.

In April, members of the RPG signed a petition “urgently” calling on the IAA and its European equivalent, theEuropean Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), to examine the impact of Ryanair’s employment terms on flight safety.

Dismissal threat: The RPG survey, which involved a third of the airline’s pilots, was taken in response to a threat by Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary to dismiss any of them who signed up to the petition.

Almost 90 per cent of the pilots surveyed said Ryanair did not have an open and transparent safety culture.

Two thirds (67.4 per cent) of pilots questioned said they did not feel comfortable raising safety related issues through Ryanair’s own internal systems.

Some 93.6 per cent of pilots believe the IAA and the EASA should investigate the impact of Ryanair’s employment practices on safety.

Pilots anonymously told the Channel 4 Dispatches programme, to be broadcast tonight, that most of them were employed on zero-hours contracts. One told the programme: “About 70 per cent of our pilots, if not more, are on a contract. They get paid only if they fly. So that’s the first pressure. I need to fly in order to make a living.”

Ryanair has been involved in a long-running feud with the pilot group, which has been set up in the absence of union recognition for the company.

Last week the RPG’s Facebook and Twitter accounts were shut down after complaints from a third party which the pilots assume is Ryanair.

In a detailed response to the pilot survey, the IAA stated that Ryanair “fully complies with all European aviation safety requirements”.

Furthermore, it has one of Europe’s “most advanced safety data collection systems with full in-flight data monitoring”.

Ryanair’s quality assurance process is now being used by other airline operators around the world to facilitate “corrective actions in a range of operational areas including, safety, operations and maintenance”, it said.

Channel 4 Dispatches programme was scheduled for broadcast tonight at 8pm.

Meeting Ireland’s future "health care needs" a major challenge ahead

  

Planning for future workforce requirements is difficult, especially in an area as complex and dynamic as healthcare. The gradual, but consistent, emigration of our junior doctors to other states, and the difficulty in filling consultant vacancies shows that it is hard enough dealing with the present situation, let alone thinking about the future.

The financial challenges faced by the Irish health service make things even more uncertain.

Yet a big reason why we are experiencing difficulties is because of a lack of planning. The recent recruitment campaigns in India and Pakistan are symptomatic of the current approach and have been criticised for being a short-term solutions to a long-term problem.

Last year, the EU produced a document on workforce planning. The report aimed to provide research support to Member States to help them prepare for the EU Joint Action on Health Workforce Planning and Forecasting for the years 2013-15. The report was written against the context of a projected shortfall on one million health professionals  in 2020. Of these 230,000, or 13.5%, would be physicians. Such a shortage would mean that almost 15% of demand for healthcare across the EU will not be covered by the available workforce.

Although planning is vital in order to avoid, or mitigate against, such an eventuality, it is nonetheless difficult. The report states that multiple scenarios need to be given consideration, a task made even harder, at a European level, due to limited data and different national contexts.

When it comes to planning, it states that supply-side projections are conceptually easier to address than predicting future demand, but requires better data sets than are currently available in many counties.

The Irish Medical Council has sought to address this with the publication of a new document, “Medical Workforce Report.”

The findings are designed to help inform the future medical staffing requirements of the health service by providing a detailed overview of doctors’ practice in Ireland.

The report shows that as of July 2012, there are 16,392 doctors registered in the country.

Taking all doctors on the register into account, including those who worked outside of Ireland for all or part of the year, made Ireland’s medical practitioner density third (2012 end of year registration figures) or seventh (retaining registration June 2012) highest out of 28 OECD countries.

Although this data is the usual way of comparing medical practitioner density in Ireland with other countries, it overestimates the medical workforce available to meet future workforce needs.

Ireland ranked 13th (end of year registration figures) or 18th (retaining registration June 2012) among the 28 countries for medical practitioner density, using data for doctors who worked exclusively in Ireland during the previous 12 months.

The report shows that 75% of doctors registered with the Council who had practised medicine in the past 12 months said they had practised in Ireland only; 10.5% practised outside Ireland only; 15.1% practised in Ireland and elsewhere.

“Beneath an apparently satisfactory supply of doctors for tomorrow’s health system, the report reveals that many doctors registered with the Medical Council are not fully active in the medical workforce as they are not in active practice, practising outside Ireland or are in less than full-time practice,” according to Medical Council CEO, Ms Caroline Spillane.

Most doctors (44.3%) registered to practise in Ireland have specialist qualifications; 42% are generally qualified doctors, who have not completed training in a medical specialty. 12.2% were training in a specialty at the time of re-registration and 1.4% were in the Supervised division, for doctors trained in non-EU country who have secured a post in Ireland.

While growth in specialisation is high, the pace of growth amongst specialties is variable.

The current estimates of medical practitioner density who are working in Ireland in all but three (medicine, paediatrics, and public health medicine) of 11 major specialty groupings raise issues of potential shortages versus projected future demand.

According to the report, if all the doctors retaining registration were working in Ireland the situation would be very different: In this case, density would meet or exceed projected need in all areas except general practice.

Approximately 35 per cent of doctors practising in Ireland qualified outside of Ireland. Doctors who qualified outside of Ireland were more likely to exit the register.

The exit rate for Irish-qualified doctors was 5.8%, compared with 16% for those who qualified in the Western Pacific, 15.3% in Africa, 14.9% in Europe (excluding Ireland), 14.3% in the Americas, 10.4% in South-East Asia and 7.1% in the Eastern Mediterranean countries.

Exit rates are highest among doctors in the General Division, while the lowest rate is among doctors in the Trainee Specialist Division.

The highest proportion of those withdrawing from the register are above retirement age, followed by doctors aged 25-39, who had an exit rate of 18.8% for doctors who were trained in Irish medical schools.

“The relatively high proportion of young doctors exiting the register is a trend that requires action if this valuable resource is to be retained in the health system,” Ms Spillane said.

M/s Spillane also said that the active recruitment of international medical graduates to fulfill the needs of the Irish health system also has an ethical dimension given that the report reveals that 10% of doctors are from countries identified as having a critical shortage of health workers.

Female participation in the workforce and representation in the specialist division has increased in recent years. Among doctors under 35, women are in the majority of Irish graduated doctors in all divisions. Female doctors were more likely to work part time. Some 20 per cent of women worked part time, compared with less than 10 per cent of men.

M/s Spillane states that the Council is engaging with the  Department of Health, the HSE, and other organisations about the issues raised in the report.

“We will be exploring some of the issues emerging from this report in detail at our annual education and training symposium and allied with this, are currently working with the HSE and Health Research Board to award a new medical education research grant,” she said.

“Since the State makes significant investment in medical education and training, we need to understand how this can best develop future doctors who can continue to meet patient needs and expectations. The greater understanding of the changing demographics of doctors practising in Ireland provided by this report will inform our work in areas of registration, education and training. It’s important that all organisations involved in doctors’ education, training and continuing practice fully consider the findings as we look to shape the medical workforce of the future.”

Low-cost home-testing STI kits to be made available in Ireland

 

THE IRISH FAMILY PLANNING ASSOCIATION WILL PROVIDE LOW-COST HOME TESTING KITS TO PEOPLE CONCERNED THAT THEY HAVE CONTRACTED A SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTION.

The new confidential testing service will test for the most common STIs including chlamydia, gonorrhoea and HIV.

Chlamydia trachomatis was the most frequently notified STI in Ireland in 2012, accounting for 48.4% of those who contracted an infection.

The number of notifications of gonorrhoea increased by 33% over 2011 and as a result the incidence rate is now the highest rate ever recorded.

“Any sexually active person may be exposed to an STI and we would advise them to get tested regularly, especially in light of the high rates of infection recorded among people in their 20s and 30s,” said Dr Tom Brett of Lloyds Online Doctor.

“In partnership with the IFPA we have developed a convenient and simple testing kit for chlamydia and gonorrhoea: You complete a short questionnaire to assess whether the online service is right for you,” he said.

The test is conducted at home and then users can post their sample directly to the laboratory for assessment.

“A home test kit will then be sent to your nominated address. Collect your sample at home then post it to our partner laboratory in Dublin. You will then be notified of your results via your confidential online record. The tests are as accurate as any test from a clinic and your results are completely confidential,” he added.

Poor sexual health is concentrated in young adults, with more than half of STI notifications among those aged 20 to 29 according to the HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre report for 2012.

The standard sexual health service from Lloyds Online Doctor tests for genital chlamydia and genital gonorrhoea which together account for the majority of sexually transmitted infections in Ireland.

As both infections may not display symptoms, it is important that those concerned are tested as they can cause serious health problems.

An enhanced test also tests for HIV in addition to chlamydia and gonorrhoea.The standard service costs €50 and the enhanced service costs €70 including postage, compared to tests in clinics costing upwards of €125.

The IFPA and Lloyds Online Doctor stressed that any individual experiencing severe pain from a suspected STI infection should not use the testing service and should instead visit an IFPA clinic without delay.

‘‘STI rates in Ireland have risen significantly in recent years, and we lack an adequate framework to respond to the need for testing. Developing innovative ways of facilitating access to STI testing services must be a central priority for Ireland’s forthcoming National Sexual Health Strategy,’’ said Dr. Caitriona Henchion, IFPA Medical Director.

The service began to provide more accessible and affordable testing to increase early detection and treatment.

‘‘Eliminating barriers to STI testing services is critical, in particular for people living in remote areas who face challenges in accessing testing services located in public hospitals, and for people on low-income who can be required to pay upwards of €125 for a full screening at local STI clinics,’’ she said.

A near death experience could be a surge in electrical activity when our heart stops

  

Near death experiences in which people report “seeing the light” could be explained by increases in electrical activity in the brain after the heart stops, scientists have found. The Science study sheds light on the moment our lights go out

The first study to examine the neurophysiological state of the dying brain in animals has identified surges in activity, which suggest a level of consciousness after “clinical death” – when the heart stops beating and blood stops flowing to the brain.

Researchers analyzed the recordings of brain activity using electroencephalograms (EEGs) from nine anesthetized rats undergoing experimentally induced cardiac arrest.

Within the first 30 seconds after cardiac arrest, all of the rats displayed a widespread, transient surge of highly synchronized brain activity that had features associated with a highly aroused and conscious brain.

Almost identical patterns were found in the dying brains of rats undergoing asphyxiation, according to the research by the University of Michigan, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Whether and how the dying brain is capable of generating conscious activity has been vigorously debated.

Approximately 20% of cardiac arrest survivors report having had a near-death experience during clinical death.

The study found that after clinical death, the rats display brain activity patterns which were characteristic of conscious perception.

Lead study author Jimo Borjigin, Ph.D., associate professor of molecular and integrative physiology and associate professor of neurology at the University of Michigan Medical School, said: “We reasoned that if near-death experience stems from brain activity, neural correlates of consciousness should be identifiable in humans or animals even after the cessation of cerebral blood flow.”

She added: “This study tells us that reduction of oxygen or both oxygen and glucose during cardiac arrest can stimulate brain activity that is characteristic of conscious processing. It also provides the first scientific framework for the near-death experiences reported by many cardiac arrest survivors.”

Researchers said the prediction that they would find some signs of conscious activity in the brain during cardiac arrest was confirmed, but they were surprised by the high levels of activity.

Senior author anaesthesiologist George Mashour, assistant professor of anesthesiology and neurosurgery at the University said: “In fact, at near-death, many known electrical signatures of consciousness exceeded levels found in the waking state, suggesting that the brain is capable of well-organized electrical activity during the early stage of clinical death.”