Niamh Humphries
@niamhhumphries.bsky.social
Senior Lecturer @ RCSI GSM | health workforce researcher | health worker migration | health worker retention | qualitative methods |doctorretention.eu
‘The State’s dragging-out of the apology adds layers of hurt to what survivors have already been through. That refusal to own the failed responsibilities of the past, and to put it right now, erodes us as a nation and undermines the good we are capable of’ www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...
Opinion: Sorry shouldn't be such a hard word for the State to say to Thalidomide survivors
Politicians seem caring in person, but the process continues to be dragged out, adding to the pain of people who have already endured so much
irishtimes.com
‘Sláintecare seems to want to increase access to public settings, but as a policy, it is accepting of healthcare inequity more generally (because only those with money can pay for private healthcare).’ Great piece on Slaintecare by Myles Balfe today: www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...
Sláintecare is meant to move us towards universal healthcare, so why has this not happened?
Private health insurance firms are entrenched behind slick advertising, reminding people they will be safeguarded as long as they can pay
irishtimes.com
When health facilities, health workers, medical transport and supplies come under attack, those vulnerable, sick, and seeking life-saving care lose all hope of healing. Every attack on health care is an attack on people’s ability to survive and recover. Stop attacks on health care. #ActForHumanity
School counselling service shelved because Government prefers cheapest option www.irishtimes.com/opinion/lett...
School counselling service shelved because Government prefers cheapest option
Despite working on it, I learned that the pilot scheme was being shelved in The Irish Times
irishtimes.com
The HSE was broken up into six regions two years ago to deliver better care. Is it working? www.irishtimes.com/health/2026/...
The HSE was broken up into six regions two years ago to deliver better care. Is it working?
Restructuring Ireland’s health service was meant to integrate services locally, but concerns have been highlighted by regional managers and the HSE board
irishtimes.com
I’m Begging You: Never Write With A.I. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/o... ‘We become better writers by the constant effort that mundane writing demands. We become better thinkers by investing into that writing a degree of attention we’d never give it if we relinquished the task to A.I’
Opinion | I’m Begging You: Never Write With A.I.
It’s bad for your brain and worse for democracy.
nytimes.com
Ireland’s postcode health lottery: Living on the ‘wrong’ side of HSE area boundary www.irishtimes.com/health/your-...
Ireland’s postcode health lottery: Living on the ‘wrong’ side of HSE area boundary
Living on ‘wrong’ side of HSE area boundary means Tipperary man cannot access nearest specialist neurorehabilitation team
irishtimes.com
Why are patients being asked to avoid UHL’s emergency department? www.irishtimes.com/health/2026/...
Why are patients being asked to avoid UHL’s emergency department?
Almost 1,000 people attended the Limerick hospital over a three-day period last week, an ‘exceptionally high level of activity for any time of the year’
irishtimes.com
GP shortages: Where are the most acute problems across the country? www.irishtimes.com/health/2026/...
GP shortages: Where are the most acute problems across the country?
The representative body for Irish GPs warns of three ‘emerging pressure points’
irishtimes.com
'Concerns were raised at the outset about the possibility of conflicts of interest and the creation of perverse incentives whereby doctors and staff involved with third-party insourcing businesses stood to benefit from long public waiting lists' www.irishtimes.com/opinion/edit...
The Irish Times view on insourcing in the health service: not a longer-term solution
The Minister’s dilemma is that winding down the practice could add to waiting lists
irishtimes.com
I strongly believe in giving the man a chance. But keeping Shabana Mahmood as Home Secretary suggests the vicious attacks on immigrants and refugees, and self-defeating attempts to outrun the far right, are likely to continue. Which is pretty damn depressing. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Read these words from 100 years ago about immigrants in Britain – and see how history is chillingly repeating itself | George Monbiot
Shabana Mahmood’s new rights clampdown looks outlandish until we remember that this kind of hardline action is part of our country’s fabric, says George Monbiot
theguardian.com
‘I was begging for pain relief but they said I wasn’t dilated enough’: Women query HSE maternity service guidelines www.irishtimes.com/health/2026/...
‘I was begging for pain relief but they said I wasn’t dilated enough’: Women query HSE maternity service guidelines
‘I don’t think anyone would say paracetamol is sufficient when it comes to real, genuine labour pain’
irishtimes.com
Rotunda allowed 17 consultants on public-only contracts to give private care www.irishtimes.com/health/2026/...
Rotunda allowed 17 consultants on public-only contracts to give private care
Seventeen consultants on public-only contracts received written permission by Dublin hospital’s master to carry out private care
irishtimes.com
🏥 Addressing the health workforce crisis calls for a radical shift in planning and forecasting models. A new Viewpoint in the European Journal of Public Health looks at what adaptive, dynamic planning means. 📖 academic.oup.com/eurpub/artic... 📺 Watch the related webinar: youtu.be/m2CTdpZeleY?... ⬇️
Peter Boylan ‘Our National Clinical Practice Guidelines on Labour should be revised by the HSE without delay. We must not see the problems experienced in Nottingham becoming embedded in obstetric practice here’ www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...
Peter Boylan: Women told they’re not in labour until they’re 4cm dilated is dangerous
As an obstetrician, I know the harmful concept of a ‘latent phase’ of labour puts women and their babies at risk
irishtimes.com
Nice summary RTÉ News: Wide variation in take-up of public-only consultant contract - data www.rte.ie/news/primeti...
Variation in take-up of public-only consultant contract - data
New Department of Health data shows 69% of all hospital consultants are now working the 2023 Public-Only Consultant Contract, which requires them to exclusively treat public patients in public hospita...
rte.ie
NEW: The story behind a silencing. Facebook whistleblower Sarah Wynn Williams is trapped in a parallel private justice system. I've written about what it tells us about the "post-state" future, a cryptolibertarian dream that's close than we realise. open.substack.com/pub/broligar...
Silenced
Facebook's silencing of a whistleblower shines a light on a private justice system and a "post-state" future where tech bros write the rules. Or as we call them, "laws"
open.substack.com
RTÉ News: Quarter of work in Galway public lab from private hospital, Dáil told www.rte.ie/news/politic...
25% of public lab work from private hospital, Dáil told
Private work is being "flushed through" the public system at University Hospital Galway with the taxpayer left to pick up the bill, the Dáil has heard.
rte.ie
'A private company run by medical consultants at Beaumont received contracts from the public hospital to the value of about €6.2 million over a six-year period from 2019 outside of any public procurement process, an Oireachtas committee has been told' www.irishtimes.com/politics/oir...
Beaumont paid €6.2m to company run by its own doctors outside public procurement rules
Public Accounts Committee hears payroll system, over budget by €2m, also outside procurement regulations
irishtimes.com
Beaumont hospital paid a radiology firm €6.2 million over six years without following any formal procurement process, TDs have heard. www.imt.ie/news/e6-2-mi...
€6.2 million paid to radiology firm without public procurement process
Beaumont apologises for ‘historic control issues’ in its 2024 financial accounts after it was revealed that company receiving hospital funds has 20 staff among its directors, with just for declaring a...
imt.ie
‘A “culture of silence” meant dozens of senior staff at Nottingham refused to co-operate with the review, the department said’
Shaun Lintern@shaunlintern.bsky.social · 3mo ago"For too long those at the top of this trust prioritsied institutional reputation over safety"
CAHMS whistleblower, Dr Sharma: 'does not regret speaking out. She said parents of the children impacted by the Camhs situation in Kerry have provided “constant support”. “I’m alive today because of them,”'
Whistleblower says exposing Camhs scandal ‘destroyed’ her life, but she doesn’t regret it
Dr Maya Sharma, who lost her job and home, plans to set up a private practice in Kerry
irishtimes.com
‘future-proofing healthcare supply will require increased and accelerated momentum with our second-level schools to promote the . . . healthcare professions and roles as attractive value-based careers”.’
The Medical Independent@medindonews.bsky.social · 3mo agoHSE has commenced engagement with secondary schools https://bit.ly/4uwLQHP @Slaintecare @HSELive @roinnslainte @Education_Ire #MedEd #hse #medicalcareer #doctors
‘over-recruitment of more than 900 staff – undertaken locally by hospitals without formal approval from the Health Service Executive or Department of Health – up to 2024 had resulted in “recurring unfunded pay costs”’ www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...
Recent hospital budget increases ‘not fiscally sustainable’, Minister for Health warns
Pay costs from over-recruitment contributing to hospitals’ financial pressures, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill tells PAC
irishtimes.com