Colm is the founder and former Director of One in Four, the national NGO that supports women and men who have experienced sexual violence. He has also served as a member of Seanad Éireann and is an author and regular media commentator and contributor.
Health is something we take for granted, until we face a crisis of some kind. Men especially, as so many of us are inclined to live with delusions that we are somehow invulnerable to ill health, which is hugely worrying of course. So much of healthcare is now about health screening and positive action to ensure good health, and that clearly requires that we think about our health and act to ensure that we protect ourselves from health risks by taking positive steps.My health is pretty good all in all. I have struggled with my weight over the years but have gotten that under control, nothing like hitting forty to focus the mind in many ways. I realised then that issues like being overweight were a real concern and that age was a real complicating factor. So I got serious about it and haven’t looked back. The positive benefit is that I now approach my health from a health promotion perspective. I am very conscious of the choices I make in managing my weight, stress levels etc, which has improved not only my physical health but my state of mind and general wellbeing.
My healthcare is all about diet, exercise and trying to make sure I make time in my life for fun and family. I exercise four to five times a week, eat my dinner in the middle of the day, and do my best to manage stress levels and keep life in balance. That’s often the biggest challenge. Work and the business of living, managing family life, getting the kids to school, making sure they have everything they need, keeping a home secure…all that important stuff can mean that there is little time to enjoy real downtime, to play, or have some time for reflection and relaxation. I need to get better at that.
My health fear is being seriously or chronically ill. I really value my health and vitality. I would be a terrible patient, as I have little tolerance for not being well and being unable to go at life at the pace and with the passion that I do. I think I would really struggle with accepting ill-health, that physical ill-health would have a terrible impact on my life and on my mental health as well.
My healthcare fear is getting ill and not receiving or being able to access good healthcare. I don’t have private health insurance for example at the moment. Having lived in the UK for years and having gotten used to the NHS there I have never gotten used to the idea that our system is so unequal that private health insurance is vital if one is to have as much confidence as possible that healthcare will be available if and when it is needed.
Ireland’s health is a mixed bag. The sad reality is that health in Ireland is dependent upon who you are, where you come from and how much money you have. Health inequalities in Ireland are shameful in my opinion, and simply unacceptable.
Ireland’s healthcare is a bit of a mess to be honest. I realise that’s a pretty damning statement but I think it is a reasonable one to make. For a start we have never even defined what our healthcare system is, or who is responsible for ensuring that there is equal access to good quality essential health care services. We haven’t even defined what ‘essential health care services’ are. We have invested enormous sums of money, and many people within the system at all levels have worked incredibly hard to improve things, and there have been improvements, but we haven’t done the very basic work of agreeing what it is we want our healthcare system to look like, and most importantly who will be responsible and then accountable for delivering it.
My healthcare dream for Ireland is a system that guarantees every person living in Ireland equal access to good quality essential healthcare services based upon their medical need alone, and not on who they are or how much money they have.
I, Colm O’Gorman have signed the Healthcare Guaranteed petition and have asked the government to provide a legal guarantee of equal access to healthcare in Ireland.
You should too.
I'm sorry but he once ran for office for the Progressive Democrats who were the driving force behind our privatised healthcare system, how could he run for that party and have these beliefs?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment Ian, sorry for the delay in responding. It's important to be clear that Amnesty is politically neutral. Many people working for the organisation have been, or still are, members of political parties, but our main concern is the protection of human rights. Human rights law is concerned with providing the 'highest attainable standard of health'. It doesn't require healthcare to be delivered by a particular system - public, private, or otherwise. There are plenty who might disagree, or who argue that certain approaches contradict human rights, either way we would be very interested in your further thoughts.
ReplyDeleteHealth care in Ireland is two tier, if you have health insurance you get the care you need, if you don't have insurance you die waiting.
ReplyDeleteFair question Ian.
ReplyDeleteHowever, those are my beliefs now and they were my beliefs then. I held very different views to that party, and other parties, on many social justice and human rights issues such as right to health, education, childrens rights, the use of Shannon in extraordinary rendition, treatment of asylum seekers etc.
As per the above comment, my concern is not who provides the service, but the principle of equality, both in terms of access to essential health care services and the quality of those services.
For example, the current government have proposed a model of universal health insurance as one means to provide for universal access. Such a model is likely to have a mix of providers, both public and private.
In theory that could well work, but Amnesty believes that theory alone isn't enough and that a binding legal guarantee that no-one will be denied access to essential health care services based on who they are, or how much money they have is essential if we are to ensure that such a reform delivers on the right to health and provides some meaningful measure of accountability if there are failures in the future.
I promised the Amnesty Ireland Twitter account that I would contribute! So this is where I am at:
ReplyDeleteHealth is defined as a state of complete physical, mental and emotional well being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity and I would agree with this, complete might be a little optimistic but hey! More importantly though health is not the same as not being sick and the majority of things that keep us healthy in our everyday lives are not provided by the Health Service Executive. I can tell you now that the two things that have contributed to my health to date have been my good fortune to have access to third level education in health related fields (physiotherapy and health promotion) and therefore a strong ability to access and understand health information for my physical health and secondly my social support network in the form of my family and friends that work to keep my mental health in check - No doctors here regularly for now touch wood.
As such healthcare to me should extend far beyond the front doors of the Regionals of this country in the form of effective and efficient primary care teams that support existing non-HSE organisations working tirelessly on behalf of the health and well being of the communities they serve. For individuals who find themselves requiring services within the hospitals healthcare to me should again be effective, efficient and accessible to all regardless of their ability to pay.
Of course it is very easy to pay lip service to tackling the chronic two-tier health care system in this country and not surprisingly I cannot provide solutions to the healthcare challenges we are currently facing.
I think it is important to understand how we got here but I feel that despite my education and personal interest in the provision of healthcare in Ireland, I have a lack of knowledge and understanding of the current economics of this country along with its prognosis.
I am not a hard core sociologist or economist and have literally just wikipedia'd capitalism but you do not need to know a whole lot to see that there is something seriously wrong here. The more I read the more I appreciate the appropriateness of the Occupy Wall Street motto 'We are the 99%' and the need for advocates such as Amnesty Ireland and the Healthcare Guaranteed Campaign.
Maybe I am just not the sharpest knife in the box but I what I would really like is the 2 A4 pages of headings and bullet points explaining the financial crisis in Ireland in simple terms and the options available to ensure the establishment of an equitable healthcare system in Ireland. Right now in the papers, online, on tv and on radio there is just TOO MUCH INFORMATION and it makes for a discourse that is nearly impossible to engage in for any member of the general population.
Thanks very much for your comment Naoimh, and apologies for the delay in our response. We really appreciate all comments that people make on the blog, twitter and facebook. Your comments about the impact of education, family and friends on health are particularly interesting. These elements of our lives, as you know, are key factors in determining health outcomes. They are often taken for granted by some, and considered a luxury by others.
ReplyDeleteIreland’s economic situation is, as you say a complex issue. We understand that savings must be made for Ireland to recover. As part of our wider programme on Human Rights in Ireland, we are pushing the importance of accountability. For example, we recognise that the right to health may not become reality overnight, because of a lack of resources. But we want Government to ensure that they use the resources that are available in the most effective way possible in order to make the right to health, and other rights a reality.
Thanks for engaging with the topic, and for supporting our campaign. We are delighted to hear that you think it is worthwhile. Hopefully our campaign will push through the removal of the two tier health system, to which you and Patricia refer.
Make sure to sign our petition on http://www.amnesty.ie/our-work/health/petition!
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ReplyDelete