Covid 19 Part XXXV-956,720 ROI (5,952 deaths) 452,946 NI (3,002 deaths) (08/01) Read OP

I’m a little curious as to whether ICU beds are defined as the same thing in different countries and different reports. It’s classified as a fully staffed bed here. I’ve definitely seen some other systems classifying a physical bed in an ICU ward with a ventilator and even the rather basic Nightingale field hospitals having been classified as ICU beds in one media report.

We’ve relatively short staffed hospitals in normal times so I’m not sure where we’ll get the ICU nurses from. They’re in high demand everywhere at the moment and many are also exiting the profession in a lot of countries due to their bad experiences in previous waves.

Whole thing is a mess.

In terms of health spending per capita we spend we're 13th in the world, just behind France, and a good bit ahead of the UK (17th) and slightly more than Australia, which has a far better health system than we do.

One of the biggest problems is we seem to compare healthcare wages (more so for consultants) with the USA, which is off the scale and out of control on health costs. Ireland spends $5726, Germany $6646, France $5476, Sweden $5782, UK $4653 and the USA $11027. That's total spending per capita in USD PPP.

The US level of health spending, which is mostly private and very lopsided in terms of where it goes, is becoming unsustainable and was in line with spending of the Nordic countries for example in the late 1990s. So, it's inflated beyond belief over the last couple of decades.

From what I can see, Irish medics set their benchmarks in the USA on what they expect to earn and if they don't get it they emigrate.

There needs to be a root and branch audit and reform of what's going on here. We are spending in the upper end of the EU and very much in line with Australia and Canada and most of the Nordic countries, yet we are getting very poor return on spending.

I have never seen Irish medics benchmark their earnings against France, Germany, Sweden, Canada etc. It's always against the US.

Nurses and 'junior' doctors also seem to be treated very poorly.

I fully appreciate that their career shape here is skewed and there are issues with career progress etc, but things like overworking people also come down to being unable to afford extra posts due to extreme fees.

I don't think we can follow up on this because we're incapable of investigating it because there's a status with medical professions here that is similar to the level of respectability carried by lawyers (off the scale fee wise compared to anywhere else in Europe and even mentioned by the IMF) and in the past the clergy. Traditional professions that are beyond discussion.

Also cost control and management seem to be something that doesn't exist in the sector here. Look at the national children's hospital debacle. It's just lashing money into a pit. The national maternity hospital that seems to be giving the hospital as a gift to a religious institution and an IT system hack that cost at least €100m and disrupted the entire healthcare system for the best part of 2 months in the middle of a pandemic.

None of that seems to get followed up on. It's just one scandal after the next and the system keeps stumbling forward sucking up public and private money.

Also, money is being sloshed into it in very large amounts, up there with the best health systems in the world in terms of cost, yet we continuously get stories of under resourced service and a sector that seems to be continuously making out that it's broke.

There's something SEVERELY wrong with it and it needs to be resolved ASAP. It's both inexplicable and inexcusable given the financial resources made available to it.

I would add that ministers who attempt to reform it, and there have been several, have generally been chewed up and spat out and came out of the whole thing extremely damaged. So, it's actually at a stage where it's almost unreformable.

The speed of the vaccine programme shows exactly what the healthcare system here should look like, in every aspect of itself - a polished, efficient, public health system. That, very unfortunately, simply isn't what we have in many areas.

Wow. You clearly live a very different life to most if you think that keeping a safe distance is normal human nature.

I am vaccinated. My friends and family are vaccinated. 80% of the adult population is vaccinated. Its fair to say that "keeping a safe distance" is no longer part of my life. Hand washing is, along with mask wearing in crowded indoor places (for no other reason than in case others around me are nervous)