Public v Private Healthcare in Ireland - the great divide

Galway University Hospital did not get the seal of approval from any of its working consultants there, deemed it dangerous.

wexford thousands are on a waiting list for 6-9yrs to see a consultant

over 150 doctors are upgraded to consultant status, even though they are not qualified to be at this grade.

Ann is in public healthcare and has a story - her story.
its an extraordinary position to be in.
aged 64yrs i have been seriously ill now for most of a decade.
i have a progressive neurodegenerative disease process which is rare, it has no name and yet visible deletions on the mtDNA have been found and alongside this many other issues have been found.
I suffer the following:
Hypothryoidism
CRS (congenital rubella syndrome)
severe/profound hearing loss
Glaucoma
Macular degeneration
Dystonia
Parkinsonism
Myopathy
Crohns disease
Gluten intolerance
Raynauds
Sjogrens Syndrome
Menieres disease
Pes Cavis deformity
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Oesteoarthritis
Gall stones
Kidney stones
My guts are failing and on nerve stimulant
Dermatitis.
I have had one stroke 
(no one told me i had this in 2013, i only discovered i had when looking at hospital notes through FOI)
Ovarian Cyst (no one told me that either)

Comments made through the public health system and its consultants:

"You don't have parkinsons disease, you just want it."  this after a positive DAT scan.
"i am going to do tests and PROVE nothing is wrong with you."
"a movement disorder from some past trauma."  (they mean here a psychological event causing a psycho-physical result, rubbished by a top Irish female neurologist when she heard this comment, thankfully!)

I have had consultant not treating me as inpatient for a week until i was psychiatrically assessed.
a consultant letting me out of hospital after a three hour surgery, major surgery for crohns disease with an infected wound, bursting three days later.
3am this wound burst and a big wad of cotton wool plastered over the gaping wound, 6pm the ambulance came for me!  i was in an old people's home, i was 47!  no one would give me after care in the family setting.
doctors walking out of the consultation room because you ask to go to a discipline recommended in the UK centre of excellence.

now lets look at care, yep.
CARE!
I have no neurologist.
I have not seen a rheumatologist in over a year and a half, i have had a major flare in that time and had to get my knees aspirated when i drove myself to a hospital so ill that after a week everything 'blew' my knees swelling horribly.
most of my teeth are now gone through decay through gum desease brought on by sjogrens syndrome which was not diagnosed for two years in ireland and only diagnosed when i managed to get out of ireland.
NO neuromuscular tests have ever been done in Ireland.
recommendations for further tests on muscles have been made two years ago to the Irish consultant but nothing has happened.
recommendations for:
hydrotherapy
ongoing physiotherapy
neuro-physiotherapy and guided program by such.
neuro-physiology work up
intensive work on muscle strengthening, gait and function
Botox advised in the UK not done
Psychologist advised by neurorehabilitation centre in 2009, only recently received - 2017.

wiped off the lists of these disciplines:
gynaecology - even though i have an ovarian cyst and fibroids
ENT - even though i have menieres, chronic mastoiditis, deafness and persistent ear infections
refusal to be sent to an Endocrinologist, advised in 2011 and still not seen by 2016 but went privately to be told thyroid replacement not stable, it has taken over a year to set a replacement dosage that will stabilize the production of hormones.
ill fitting shoes provided for pes cavis, causing toe nails to be ripped off, fall causing fractured rib and also two complete tears to my shoulder muscles, inoperable.
i have troubling symptoms requested to be investigated in Uk getting worse.
i believe its Vascular.  A recent public consultation when finally getting to a top specialist in ENT surgery said the symptoms were not caused by my menieres or mastoiditis.

do i actually have any medical cover right now.
No, i do not.
i have good cover for my crohns and guts.
That is it.
Nothing else, no neurologist, no tests, no support, no therapies, no oversight, no speicalist nurse.  Nada.

Now, if i was in the Private system.
All would be dealt with speedily, i would never be waiting over two and a half years for a surgeon to investigate troubling head disturbances.
there is a great divide here in Ireland between public health care and private.
those in the Private system would barely know what is happening in the Public.
those in the Public system know it to be frightening and dangerous.
its a scary place to be and a scary country to be sick in.
we now have the worst healthcare system in Europe.
there is nothing we can do about it on a personal level.
It does not stop me telling my readers how awful it is, how terrifying it is, to know that at anytime sloppy medicine can kill me off in a second in this country.
I can even have a registrar stick a steriod into my head under the skin in A'E, a registrar who had no patients allocated to him so new he was to the hospital.  this injection caused a blood clot.
Had he or my primary consultant (now lost) not been aware that my clotting rate is double that of the normal cohort.
well if they did, they ignored it.
I think they didnt bother to read my notes.
amen to that.
i say.