The Irish Medical Organisation has strongly criticised the "chaos and mismanagement" of the health service over the last year under the stewardship of the Minister for Health James Reilly, a former president of the organisation.
In a hard-hitting address to its annual conference this afternoon, George McNeice, IMO chief executive, said the optimism and enthusiasm that had greeted the election of the new Government and the appointment of Dr Reilly a year ago had all but disappeared.
He said the over-riding impression now was of how little had changed since the new Government had come into power, not how much.
"A year on, the problems have not been solved. Worse, there is little confidence that the right progress is being made."
"So the optimism of a year ago has given way to renewed worry and doubt about what the future holds for doctors, other health professionals and for our patients."
Mr McNeice said in opposition members of the current Government never tired of speaking about the deterioration in the health service and the need for a radical overhaul.
"Some people, including some who should have known better, held out the prospect of easily -implementable reforms transforming the patient experience".
He said that in Government the promise of these reforms had become bogged down in the carpets of the Department of Health.
Mr McNeice said the mandarins "who have spent years defending the indefensible and formenting division and tension are winning the key arguments and we are stuck in crisis management when what we need is crisis resolution".
He pointed to chaos and mismanagement of the health service over the last year including "the farce over the administration of the medical card system where tens of thousands of applications got stuck in a jam that is taking months to resolve".
He said the Department of Health had created a revolving door in relation of non-consultant hospital doctor posts. He said the department was chaotically trying to fill positions in hospitals which had been vacated by Irish graduates who had been forced to emigrate as a result of its policies.
