Emily Logan's investigation highlights State and HSE inefficiency in implementing Children First. By Sara Burke

On Tuesday last, the Ombudsman for Children, Emily Logan, published an investigation into the State’s implementation of Children First, the national guidelines on child protection. In the investigation, Logan reprimanded the State’s failure to adequately protect children.

The INMO's annual conference last week rejected the controversial Croke Park deal and proposed a 'third way' in reforming the health care system. By Sara Burke.

Over 300 nurses and midwives gathered in Trim for their annual delegate conference from the 5th to the 7th of May. The first motion considered by the conference was to unanimously reject the Croke Park deal. So why did they do this and what are they going to do now?

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) executive outlined four reasons for rejecting the deal:

The show down between HSE management and IMPACT members has the potential to cause mayhem in the health system, as well as increasing the likelihood of union rejection of the Croke Park deal. By Sara Burke.

Public sector workers have been limiting their activities on a work-to-rule since the end of January, engaging in various kinds of action including non-cooperation with reconfiguration, redeployment, and not answering phones.

Just six months ago, the 'Fair Deal' scheme was introduced, changing the way nursing home care is funded and paid for. So how is it faring and has it achieved what it set out to? By Sara Burke.

Up to last October, there were huge disparities in how nursing home care was paid for; if you were in a public bed all your care was paid for out of public money and you contributed 80% of your income.

The idea of universal healthcare is gaining public and political momentum in Ireland. But the current government is unwilling to make strides in this direction. By Sara Burke.

Last week the Irish Medical Organisation launched a document on universal healthcare coverage and the Adelaide Hospital Society held a conference on financing and organising social health insurance in Ireland. What did the respective bodies have to say and where do our political health leaders stand on these proposals?

The south-east stand off is symptomatic of public-private mix. By Sara Burke.

On Thursday’s Morning Ireland programme, there was a very public stand-off between the HSE and Whitfield Cancer Centre (run by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre [UPMC]). UPMC threatened to withdraw radiotherapy services for cancer patients in the south-east from the beginning of May next.

The US, despite the health insurance reforms, still does not offer universal health care. By Sara Burke.

Siptu is planning a 48 hour all out strike action in seven Dublin hospitals on 7 April. At the centre of this industrial action is ‘outsourcing’. Outsourcing is the jargon used to describe the privatising of services which have been traditionally carried out by public sector workers. The workers involved in this action are ‘support staff grades’, i.e. anybody who does not do clinical care work in a hospital including porters, caterers, cleaners, security, care assistants and their supervisors. These are the lowest paid staff in the health service.

The primary care strategy of the Health Service Executive (HSE) is admirable in its ambition, but experience on the ground shows that those ambitions are a long way from being reached writes Sara Burke.

Over eight years on from the launch of the primary care strategy, there are 222 teams in place. 90-95 per cent of health care needs can be met by them and they are Brendan Drumm’s pet project. So what do these teams actually do? Do they really exist? And how widespread are they?

Two and a half weeks ago, amidst the media frenzy of George Lee’s resignation, the HSE Service Plan was published. The HSE Service Plan is the HSE’s most important publication of the year, as it is the contract between the HSE and the government which details the type and volume of service the HSE will provide in the year ahead within the budget it is allocated by government.