Dr Hilary Jones - Ireland has no health service

[LadyEloise]

I'm cross. I'm very cross !
How can an educated man, a medic, state that the country next to his has no health service on national television.
A country that shares a border with the UK ( Northern Ireland ).
In reply to Piers Morgan about countries using different strategies to cope with the pandemic, Dr Hilary Jones says that Ireland has to do what its doing because it has no health service.

That is simply not true.

We have the Health Service Executive, with about 100,000 employed in it. Much of it is free. GP visits and prescription charges are means tested. All children under 6 and pensioners over 70 have free HP care.
He did apologise on Twitter but I think, to reach a wider audience he needs to go back on the show and state the facts.
Our Prime Minister is a medical doctor.
We have a national health service. There is a free Breast Check, Cervical check,Immunisations for children and teenagers, Bowel screening etc.

What a shame neither of the two presenters , Piers or Susanna Reid could refute his claims at the time.

I don't think NHS can continue as it is.

What is it, a week, two weeks to get an appointment with GP or something?

CV19 will sort it out. The worried well who should not attend a doctor's surgery with two weeks wait will really have to get used to a new normal.

We have and will have more fish to fry in the coming days sadly.

CappyCapCap
Just over 30% have a medical card. All under 6's and over 70's have free gp care.
Free Breast Check, Cervical Check, immunisation for children and teenagers, free hearing and sight tests in schools and free Bowel Cancer Screening for all.
It's not a great system but we do have a health service.

@LadyEloise I wasn't aware free bowel screening was offered, at what age is this offered?

I lived in Ireland for a long period, it’s a beautiful and really captivating country. I met some lovely people there who’ll I’ll remember forever. But - oh my Goodness - they had no bloody idea about England. Or the English.

Cacasfois And that was actually what an Irish person said to me “well that’s how we’ve been feeling for 200 years”- except I didn’t have any anti-Irish feeling at all. That’s why I moved there, I loved the culture and people etc. And wanted to make friends. My car’s English number plate caused people to spit on it. I’m sad I met with so much anti
English feeling. So - we all feel bad - maybe it’s time we moved on?

I notice a similar attitude on mumsnet to Scotland. On a gcse discussion someone reckoned their child could be packed off to Scotland to do exams there, although I am fairly sure the education system is completely different. I know school holidays are.

I think people tend to assume every system they grew up with is best and correct. There are some right eejits on both islands.

Perhaps your insensitivity on this thread indicates how you operate in person, @Thankssomuch? Because I have a GB reg car here, which has been parked in some fairly insalubrious bits of several cities, and no one has spat on it.

I’ve just moved to Ireland after several decades in England. At my local GP surgery in England, the average wait for an appointment was three weeks, and I seldom saw the same doctor. To be seen without an appointment I had to arrive before 8 am and queue on the street until the surgery opened at 8.30, then take a number and wait, sometimes for two hours, longer if I wanted to see a specific doctor.

In Ireland, I will always be squeezed in the same day. Yes, I pay €60, but having only been with this surgery for three weeks, two visits (one not charged because I needed to give more blood, so the doctor used his discretion) have resulted in me being prescribed a drug that is really helping, and got me referred to a consultant with the appointment happening — even during coronavirus — within ten days of the referral. I also have a scan appointment in the near future.

I appreciate the NHS — who doesn’t? — but I’m feeling much warmer towards the Irish system at the moment.

DR HILARY IS RIGHT. I am so bloody glad I got out of Ireland when I did. Pp is completely right about Irish people who can’t bear it when the English “speak ill” of them. It’s the truth.

eggandonion, and cacacois - it sounds as if we’ve had similar experiences. I agree - one meets with prejudiced attitudes everywhere, although on the whole (I believe) most people are great.
Not sure I was being insensitive on this thread, indoorweather, just recounting my own experiences, positive and negative, as part of this conversation.

DR HILARY IS RIGHT No he wasn't, Y'no the large government funded HSE. I am so bloody glad I got out of Ireland when I did Me too you sound very angry. Pp is completely right about Irish people who can’t bear it when the English “speak ill” of them I think you'll find it is the same with most countries. Do you like when the Irish speak ill of the English.
It’s the truth Drum roll... What is the truth?

I grew up in Belfast so have a Northern Ireland accent. I spent the eighties in England, and despite the IRA horrors i don't remember any personal abuse. Now I'm in RoI - things are different in each jurisdiction.
I think the HSE staff and the academic advisers are doing really well here, and the government as it stands too. I'd be less secure in NI or GB at the moment.

I am English and I work for the Irish health service, Dr Hillary was completely wrong. It is a two tier system but we do have a health service. He then incorrectly explained to Piers and British public that this is why Ireland has taken different measures to manage the pandemic. I am not sure why he was being interviewed on the topic anyway as he is not an infectious diseases expert or involved in Boris’s Covid-19 team as far as I know.

Or maybe he is!
Rte, which is kind of like the BBC, and virgin media which is kind of like itv, seem to have a policy of only speaking to people who know what they are talking about on this topic. (Usually they interview people from tcd and ucd who are handy)

Hmmm, not sure about that. I do remember him spending rather a lot of time with Richard and Judy when I lived in England. Anyway that’s beside the point. He was incorrect.

Or maybe he is! He is definitely not. I grew up watching him on ITV.
You'd think a medical professional in the UK English born would be aware of the HSE. I doubt there is a Doctor in Ireland who isn't aware of the NHS.
Speaking of Irish Doctor's isn't Professor Paddy Mallon amazing. 👌

Would you be surprised if Boris was being advised by a television doctor? I liked Anne and Nick better than Richard and Judy.
So many Irish doctors and nurses move to the UK when they qualify and don't return... I suppose it looks like there isn't a proper health system in Ireland? Most of the young people I know in medical careers are outside Ireland, which is sad.

So many Irish doctors and nurses move to the UK when they qualify and don't return

That’s funny because all the ones I know have come home

I do sometimes wonder why we train them... my dd1 qualified 4 years ago in an NUI college. They had a 'careers module' with various speakers. HSE explained recruitment, with the proviso that there were no jobs; other speakers were a UK recruitment agency and an agency from Dubai. (My dd1 did get an HSE post, none of her friends did).
I don't know any who have come home. I know a group of four physios and a radiographer in NZ who have been offered permanent jobs.

My Mum said he was on TV doing a Q&A this morning and someone asked if she could visit her elderly parents for Mother's Day and he said absolutely, I shall be visiting my mother (in her 80s)