A false impression has been created that the health system is in crisis, a Minister of State for Health asserted at the annual conference of the Irish Medical Organisation yesterday.
Seán Power said there was a tendency among some commentators to highlight "the perceived flaws" in the health system. "This approach has helped to create the false impression of a health system in crisis. It ignores the excellent, efficient and highly valued services provided every day in our services," he said.
His comments came shortly after the IMO's chief executive George McNeice, in his address, described the health service as being "in a critical state".
Mr Power defended the service, outlining how large numbers of extra staff, including hospital consultants, had been recruited to the public health services since 1997. There were now 33,672 more staff in the sector, he said. There had also been investment in extra acute hospital beds, he insisted.
Mr McNeice, however, said the simple fact was that 5,833 acute hospital beds were removed from the system between 1980 and 2000. He said the Government acknowledged 3,000 more beds were required in 2002 but few of them were provided.
"And alarmingly we are now told that another review of bed capacity is to be conducted. Are we going to continue commissioning review after review until one comes up with the desired answer while the system staggers from crisis to crisis?" he asked.
It was difficult to see how the A&E crisis could be solved without addressing the issue of bed capacity. "In that context it is invidious for the State to provide tax breaks to private hospitals when taxes foregone could have been invested in public hospital facilities where they are urgently needed," he said.
"I am concerned at the worrying trend of expansion in private healthcare at the expense of investment in the public system . . . the raison d'etre of private hospital facilities is, in the main, to make a profit by taking advantage of tax incentives and by cherry-picking the range of services they are prepared to offer to patients."
He also claimed the levels of bureaucracy in the health service had been exacerbated by the establishment of the Health Service Executive. It had slowed progress to "a snail-like crawl".
Mr McNeice also said the solution to the many problems that beset the health service required an alliance between Government, the HSE and health service staff.
"However, instead of leading such an alliance," he said, "Government and the HSE seem more focused on blaming those who work so heroically and with admirable commitment in a health service hampered by lack of investment."