IAEM & Emergency Medicine News

This page contains news from the Association and details of changes or new material on this website.

July 2010

• 15th July 2010  IAEM has commented on the recent publication of Changing Cardiovascular Health - National Cardiovascular Health Policy 2010-19. The Association has welcomed the publication but has noted the absence of any mature consideration of the key role of the country's Emergency Departments who are the point of first call within the hospital service for patients with undifferentiated chest pain, Acute Coronary Syndromes (including all forms of 'heart attack', stroke and suspected stroke. The IAEM's Press Release commenting on Changing Cardiovascular Health - National Cardiovascular Health Policy 2010-19 raises concerns about these issues.
• 12th July 2010  The recent decision by the UK government to amend the Emergency Department Access Standard, the so called '4 hour target', is open to being misunderstood. The UK government is, in fact, enhancing performance management rather than in some way softening it. IAEM has produced a Press Release clarifying the position about the UK '4 hour target' which analyses the rationale behind the move and the direction the UK government is taking. It is noteworthy that strong government leadership in the UK has effectively abolished ED overcrowding, unlike in Ireland where sadly it continues unchecked.
• 2nd July 2010  IAEM has welcomed the passage through the Oireachtas of the Road Traffic Bill 2009 which will reduce the permissible Blood Alcohol Concentration for drivers as well as introducing mandatory alcohol testing at collisions. The Association's Press Release welcoming the reduction in the legal blood alcohol limit anticipates that the final passage of the Bill through the Dail on 7th July 2010 and being signed into law by the President will not be derailed by political factions. 

June 2010

• 22nd June 2010  IAEM has formally responded to the inaccurate assertions made on last Thursday's Prime Time programme by the Minister for Health & Children, Ms Mary Harney TD. The Association's Press Release recognises the fact that the Minister's erroneous comments will have been prompted by HSE briefings which do little to dispell the view that the Executive is incapable or unwilling to recognise the extent of the overcrowding problem or effectively eradicate it. The Press Release is here.
• 18th June 2010  The Prime Time Current affairs programme revisited the ongoing issue of Emergency Department Overcrowding. Although RTE were only given access to EDs at Beaumont, Waterford Regional, Cork University & Limerick Regional Hospitals by the HSE, the piece, currently accessible here, accurately portrayed the extent of the ongoing overcrowding problem which besets many of Ireland's EDs. The Minister's oft repeated insistance of late that the problem is generally resolved and only confined to a small handful of hospitals was strongly rebutted in a response to the piece by Association President, Mr Fergal Hickey. Association members are only too well aware that the overcrowding problem is far from resolved, has spread to new hospitals, is deteriorating in certain hospitals and is being exacerbated by ward & bed closures.
• 17th June 2010 In March 2009, IAEM called for appropriate provision of 24 hour a day, 7 day a week Social Work services. The March 2009 Position Paper is here and the accompanying Press Release here. The recent catalogue of high profile child protection failures has prompted the Association to call on the Department of Health & Children to mandate the HSE to provide this service. This is a service which in 2010 would be regarded as basic in any developed country. Today's Press Release is here.
• 16th June 2010 IAEM has raised significant public health concerns about further products, including one known as Whack, which are now available in Headshops around the country. This new compound has been responsible for scores of admissions to the country's EDs in recent weeks and serious physical, psychological and psychiatric sequelae. The Association strongly advises the public that such products are highly dangerous and should not be ingested. The Association's Press release is here.
• 12th June 2010 IAEM today assumed the mantle of being the next host of the International Conference on Emergency Medicine at the close of the 13th ICEM in Singapore. The 14th ICEM will take place in Dublin from 27th-30th June 2012 and promises to be the biggest and best ICEM yet. The Conference has its own dedicated website which will be populated over forthcoming months.
• 9th June 2010 The Association will be strongly represented at the 13th International Conference on Emergency Medicine which opens today in Singapore. The Association will have a stand to encourage delegates to put the dates of the 14th ICEM into their schedules. The next ICEM will be held in Dublin from 27th to 30th June 2012 in Dublin and will be hosted by IAEM.

May 2010

• 26th May 2010 The site has a new webpage dedicated to Academic & Research issues in Emergency Medicine. It is accessible here and will be progressively added to over the next few weeks.
• 25th May 2010 Recent sustained public disquiet about deficiencies in child proection arrangements within Ireland has prompted the Association to remind interested parties that in spite of a number of high profile cases, Ireland is still sadly in the unique position of not having out-of-office-hours social services provision. This is a major deficiency in any system ostensibly in place to provide a safe service for vulnerable children. Many of these children attend or are brought to the country's Emergency Departments. The Association's views on this important issue, available here, were published in March 2009.
• 14th May 2010 IAEM has warmly welcomed the Minister for Health & Children's decision to ban a wide variety of dangerous drugs up to recently widely available in so called Headshops. The Association's Press Release is here. There is also a need to make internet access to these drugs as difficult as possible and to deal more aggressively with the illegal drug trade. Sadly the country's Emergency Departments see, all too frequently, the toxicological and psychiatric effects of these related families of drugs.
• 12th May 2010 Although the Association has been and continues to be a strong supporter of the need for and the benefits to patients of Emergency Department Reconfiguration, IAEM has concerns that little contingency planning seems to be underway to deal with the potential partial or complete closure of a number of ED in July 2010. The severe shortage of doctors to staff the country's EDs which will worsen on 1st July 2010 may force this course of action but this does not absolve Health Service management of the need to ensure that the significant effects on out-of-hours Primary Care, the Ambulance service and adjacent EDs are planned for and ameliorated. The Association's Press release is here.
• 11th May 2010 The Association warmly welcomes the government's move to ban many of the noxious products currently freely available in so-called Headshops. This move needs to be followed by decisive action to block internet access to these same products which have resulted in many acute medical and psychiatric presentations to Emergency Departments all over the country. In tandem, efforts to combat the seemingly endless supply of illegal and equally dangerous drugs need to be intensified.
• 5th May 2010 Significant information about the Training Recognition status of NCHD posts in Emergency Medicine has been uploaded to the Training News section of the site. The intention is that EM training information will be uploaded to the page, linked here, as it comes to hand.

April 2010

• 30th April 2010 The Spot your Tot campaign which is strongly supported by IAEM and fronted by Dr Gerry Lane has received significant coverage in the national and regional print media as well as on national radio. This road safety campaign urges car & tractor drivers to ensure they do a 5 second visual check around the vehicle before pulling off and keeping small children where they can be seen. The alternative, sadly, is that a child may be inadvertently knocked down and seriously injured or killed.
• 27th April 2010 IAEM has reminded the public about the dangers of small children falling through open upstairs windows. This risk increases during periods of good weather or when spring cleaning is being carried out. The Association's Press Release is here.
• 23rd April 2010 IAEM has offered advice to students facing upcoming State Examinations. The Association has warned about the implications of sport induced hand injuries and suggested that consideration should be given to avoiding ball sports carrying this risk for the six weeks before the Junior & Leaving Certificate Examinations. The Association's Press Release is here.
• 19th April 2010 IAEM has called for a sustained programme of expansion of the number of Consultants in Emergency Medicine employed in Ireland. The Association's Press Release is here and calls for 5 new posts to be created this year and next followed by 10 new posts a year for the following 8 years. This approach would ensure employment of those doctors being currently trained by the National Emergency Medicine Higher Specialist Training programme and facilitate the expansion of the programme to produce a greater number of trained specialists. The Comptroller & Auditor General's Special Report on Emergency Departments confirms the current severe shortage of what it terms Senior Clinical Decision Makers.
• 15th April 2010 The Association in conjunction with HSE West has launched a campaign to reduce the number of incidents where small children were knocked down by parents & relatives driving tractors and cars, often with catastrophic results. The Association's Press Release is here and details of the uptake by the print media are available on the IAEM's Road Safety webpage.
• 6th April 2010 The Association has expressed its increasing concerns about the worsening recruitment difficulties being experienced in the country's Emergency Departments. The situation has worsened since IAEM brought the matter to public attention on 10th March 2010 and is likely to get significantly worse from 1st July 2010. The Association's Press Release is here.

• 1st April 2010 Technical problems have seen the IAEM website inaccessible for the past week. Although the site is accessible again since today, some content from the past few months is missing and will be re-uploaded/ reinstated over the next week or so.

March 2010

• 24th March 2010 On 24th March 2006 the Minister for Health & Children Ms Mary Harney TD appropriately characterised the problem of Emergency Department overcrowding where EDs are full of hospital inpatients (inpatient boarders) as a 'national emergency'. RTE's report of her comments is here. Four years on, the problem is as bad as ever. The response of the HSE and the Minister appears to be to deny the extent of the current problem rather than to aggressively strive to overcome it. The Association's Press Release to mark the 4th anniversary of the declaration of a 'national emergency' is here.
• 16th March 2010. IAEM shares concerns expressed in the Comptroller & Auditor General's Report about the paucity of 'Senior Decision Makers' available in the country's Emergency Departments. This shortage of Consultants in Emergency Medicine has been compounded by the non or under-provision of locum cover which is an increasing problem nationally. The Association's Press Release is here.
• 10th March 2010 IAEM expresses its very grave concerns about the current and worsening difficulties staffing the country's Emergency Departments. The Association calls for a significant increase in the numbers of Consultants in the specialty but also a change in the way EDs are staffed. The Press Release is here.
• 9th March 2010 IAEM members are advised that the deadline for Early Bird Registration for the 13th International Conference on Emergency Medicine to be held in Singapore from 9th -12th June 2010 has been extended until 31st March 2010. The Conference website is accessible here.
• 2nd March 2010 Dr Michael Sweeney's reflections on his experiences as part of the GOAL humanitarian mission to earthquake-ravaged Haiti have been uploaded to the webpage on IAEM members' response to the Haiti Humanitarian Effort. The article is available here.

February 2010

• 26th February 2010 IAEM welcomes the announcement of the NCHD changeover date alteration. The Press Release is here. The Association has strongly advocated for this change for a decade or more and welcomes it finally coming to reality.
• 24th February 2010 IAEM publishes an initial Press Release in response to the Comptroller & Auditor General's Special Report on Emergency Departments, it is available here.
• 23rd February 2010 IAEM Members are reminded that Early Bird Registration for the 13th ICEM to take place in Singapore from 9th - 12th June 2010 will close on 28th February 2010. The Conference website is here.
• 22nd February 2010 The webpage detailing IAEM members' contributions to the Haiti relief efforts has been updated with further news and photos. The page is here.
• 12th February 2010 The Comptroller & Auditor General's Special Report on Emergency Departments is published. The report available here, confirms that many of Ireland's EDs are still poorly supported by individual hospitals and the HSE in general. In addition, patients continue to suffer inordinate and indeed worsening delays in being provided with a hospital bed. The Association will publish a formal critique and commentary on the lengthy report in due course.
• 8th February 2010 IAEM President has corrected inaccurate assertions by the Minister for Health & Children in his contribution on today's edition of the Today with Pat Kenny radio show. The link is here. Please note that the inpatient boarder figure on 20th January 2010 was 500 not 600 as Mr. Hickey inadvertently stated in the interview.
  
• 4th February 2010 IAEM has strongly refuted assertions by the Minister for Health & Children on the Today with Pat Kenny Show on RTE 1 radio on 3rd February 2010 that there have been improvements in ED overcrowding and that the problem is confined to a small number of hospitals. The Association's press release is here.
• 3rd February 2010 The Association has contributed actively to the SARI Prevention of Intravascular catheter-related infection in Ireland document which was formally published recently. The Association was represented by Dr Abel Wakai, Locum Consultant in Emergency Medicine at St James's Hospital. The document is available here.
• 2nd February 2010 Photos of the presentation of IAEM Leo Pharma prizes following the IAEM Annual Scientific Meeting in Athlone in October 2009 have been uploaded to the Gallery section of the site. They can be viewed here.

January 2010

• 29th January 2010 IAEM members are part of GOAL's humanitarian response to Haiti following the devastating earthquake. The webpage is here.