EDITORIAL: The more things change, the more they stay the same!

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Or so it seems anyhow.

Another January; another bout of flu doing the rounds; another crisis in the health service; another series of finger-pointing, accusations, and the blame game. It’s a tiring tirade of negativity - the annual doomsday scenario as trolley numbers go through the roof; horror stories occupy the airwaves; and the Minister for Health and HSE rush to defence. The ‘ we must do better’ line is trotted out again and sticking plasters are sought to help stop the bleed.

The problem though is that this is not just a bleed - this is a wound which keeps on opening and it really requires collective responsibility if meaningful solutions are to be found. And by the way, now is not the time to be looking for proper solutions - that time should be immediately after this crisis has passed. In the meantime, the sticking plasters will have to do.

In times past, most medium sized towns had their own District Hospitals within which a vast range of medical issues were dealt with - in the event of more serious intervention being required, patients were referred on to further afield.

When these hospitals were shut down over the course of a few decades - usually thanks to political intervention - the pressure was heaped onto the bigger centres thereby causing major congestion. Now, we have moved back towards primary health care centres in medium sized towns - district hospitals of a different name, you might say. We have gone back to the past to try and deal with the issues of the future.

The big problem is that, in the meantime, it has become very very difficult to work within the health system in Ireland and graduates are voting with their feet - they are moving abroad, working in the private sector and refusing to put up with the stress, cramped and crowded conditions, and the constant tripping from one crisis to another.

The big issue is that beds are not the crux here - getting doctors, nurses and consultants to work in the system is -not an easy fix at all.