Tag Archives: chief executive officer

A retiring senior clinician has warned that public hospitals could still be overwhelmed by a resurgence of Covid-19. While UL Hospitals’ Group chief clinical director, Dr Gerry Burke is relieved with the suppression of coronavirus, he has urged people to “hold firm” as intensive care facilities in Ireland still have limited capacity to deal with a potential second wave of the virus later this year. “It has been a massive effort, but it’s a work in progress. The threat has not gone away. It has abated somewhat, but there is a threat of us being overwhelmed by a resurgence of the disease. “It’s important to remember that our ICU in capacity in Ireland is still limited; that we still have limited single room space; and limited numbers of medical and nursing staff. We must not be complacent. We have got to hold firm,” he said. In addition to requiring an additional 300 public acute beds, Dr Burke, who retired recently, …

THE glaring disparity between public subvention provided to public and private nursing homes came under the spotlight this week as some residential care facilities request more personal protective equipment (PPE) to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic over the coming weeks. In a week when a local lobby group issued a public appeal for people to donate PPE, a huge gap has emerged in terms of state funding provided to different local nursing home operators. According to figures obtained by the Clare Champion, some public nursing homed are getting almost twice as much public subvention under the Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Fair Deal) compared with their private counterparts. Under the NHSS, the cost of care in Clare’s public nursing homes is €1,607 in St Joseph’s Community Hospital, Ennis; €1,650 in Raheen Community Nursing Unit; Ennistymon Community Unit €1,481 and Regina House Community Nursing Unit, Kilrush, €1,422. This compared to €830 for a single or shared room in St Dominic Savio Nursing …