Two-thirds of healthcare workers ‘actively’ considering leaving role, TASC study finds www.irishtimes.com/health/2026/...

A key moment in 2026 will be the publication of a new long-term workforce plan for the NHS. In this new blog, James Buchan looks at the central role improving NHS staff retention must play in delivering on the government’s ambitions for the NHS. Read more ⬇️ https://bit.ly/4swThyY

‘A total of 75 patients were waiting more than 24 hours, of whom 14 were 75 years or older’ www.irishtimes.com/health/2026/...

Overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick a serious issue 45 years ago www.irishtimes.com/history/2025...

‘The NHS would collapse within hours’: BME staff say Britain fails to appreciate their roles

‘Acute shortage’ of health workers amid ageing demographics, official analysis finds www.irishtimes.com/health/2025/...

Brianna Parkins: ‘People leave their country when it has let them down – through lack of jobs, economic opportunity and now, housing’ www.irishtimes.com/life-style/p...

‘Photographs are out of the question. Corridor care has long been a common practice at many hospitals, but the brutal reality of the NHS’s beds crisis can feel too distressing to expose to others’

Excellent and important piece by the Chief Commissioner of @ihrec.bsky.social, Liam Herrick: Why has Ireland abruptly decided the European Convention on Human Rights goes too far? – The Irish Times www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

Reflections & Guidance on Using Ethnographic Approaches in Health & Care Research Lauren Ramsey, Graham Martin, Nicola Mackintosh, Jennifer Creese, Elisa Liberati, Charlotte Overton, Georgia Spiliopoulos, Krysia Canvin, Rachael Kelley, Justin Waring journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

New paper under the leadership of the wonderful @niamhhumphries.bsky.social, we look at #GP in #Ireland- Changing Working Patterns in Irish general practice: Findings from a Qualitative Remote Ethnographic Study doi.org/10.1016/j.he...

Tensions within coalition

New figures from @newsnmc.bsky.social show international nurse & midwife recruitment is falling fast. Tightened immigration rules risks deepening workforce shortages, putting patient safety at risk. We need an honest debate on immigration’s vital role in health & care. Read: https://bit.ly/44KFfQ0

Fertility, family planning, pregnancy & motherhood among women doctors... Sanjana Biju, Caoimhe Madden, Paul O’Connor, Dara Byrne, @niamhhumphries.bsky.social, Grant Jeffrey, Jennifer Finnegan, @keelinodonoghue.bsky.social, Sarah Fitzgibbon, Sinéad Lydon bmjopen.bmj.com/content/15/1...

'At some point, somebody somewhere should have asked what the underlying mechanisms of failure are; the unseen seams in the State that keep producing outcomes in which responsibility dissolves and innocent people pay the price'. www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

The most dangerous

‘For as long as we face crises in housing, health, and infrastructure, politicians and the public – intentionally or not – will look for a scapegoat. Too often, the target is immigrants, and within that group, asylum seekers’ www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

‘the Government . . .has announced that there are “too many” migrants. Yet it cannot say how many is too many or which categories of migrants – nurses, doctors, IT specialists, international students, care workers, meat packers – should be turned away’ www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

‘Rather than address the real root causes of political dissatisfaction in Ireland, it suits the Government to point to asylum seekers as the problem – something the far right is happy to capitalise on’ www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

"My NHS colleagues & I weren’t willing to let the bodies pile high in their thousands. Boris no longer mentions them at all." My piece on the responses to the UK Covid-UK Inquiry report that try to airbrush the dead away. Sincere thanks, @theobserveruk.bsky.social. observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

👋 We’ve been a little quiet… because we’ve been busy planning! We’re thrilled to announce that abstract submissions for #HSRUK26 are OPEN 🎉If you’re working on health services research that deserves a national platform, now’s your moment! 🔗 Info & submission guidance here: hsruk.org/hsruk/events...

Ministers lobbied by medical firm after waiting-list regime tightened www.irishtimes.com/health/2025/...

Children should not have to wait 13 years to see a psychologist www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

Out-of-pocket Zimbabwean care workers left without wages after promised jobs fall through www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/co...

What we lose when we surrender care to algorithms | Eric Reinhart

‘Significant’ staffing shortages in stroke units, report finds www.irishtimes.com/health/2025/...

The latest Australian data reveal that 630 Irish doctors obtained Australian work visas in 2024-25 (up from 624 last year). We recently wrote a case study of health worker migration into and out of Ireland and its health system implications - read it here: www.who.int/europe/publi...

‘anything produced by generative AI is based on existing texts and is therefore, technically speaking, always plagiarism’ apache.be/2025/10/24/b...

Thoughtful essay “we are in danger of forgetting the greatest untapped resource on any college campus — the professors. We are surrounded by human experts, yet we are being encouraged to take our questions to robots”

Over 14,000 physicians currently practicing in the United States, concentrated in underserved Midwestern+Southern states, are currently working on H-1B visas. This is the high-skill visa program, lifeblood for critical sectors, that the US Administration is sledgehammering. doi.org/10.1007/s116...

Reading papers is a basic skill (and dare I say duty?) of scientists, and I include medical doctors in that group. Keeping abreast of the literature is a foundational part of our professions. There aren’t good shortcuts. In any case, reading papers regularly is fun. arstechnica.com/ai/2025/09/s...

Two-thirds of public hospitals have unsafe bed-occupancy levels in first half of 2025 www.irishtimes.com/health/2025/...

With misinformation nearly everywhere, one professor tested a simple fix of 150 minutes of fact-checking homework – and it worked, boosting the students’ ability to spot misinformation by nearly 20%. tcnv.link/rmHCvyJ

While the mainstream discussions are depressingly about *how* best to remove and stop immigrants, it’s a revolutionary act nowadays to say that immigration is actually a positive thing and an essential component of a thriving country, so please join me in doing so!

'The 12 months to April 2025 saw 13,500 people leave Ireland to go to Australia . . .This represented the highest level of emigration from Ireland to Australia since 2013, when an estimated 14,100 made the move'. www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2025...

Cost of hiring agency staff in hospitals hit €380m last year www.irishtimes.com/health/2025/...

‘If we leave, it’s not because we don’t love this country. It’s because this country stopped loving us back. If you lose your nurses, your doctors, your care workers — don’t ask ‘why.’ You already know why’ 2irelands2gether.com/2025/08/06/t...

Portiuncula hospital is not safe for women giving birth www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

Portiuncula review: How can the same issues occur at the same hospital again? www.irishtimes.com/health/2025/...

HSE paid one firm €54m over 27 months for services to tackle waiting lists in public hospitals www.irishtimes.com/health/2025/...

2nd place can feel disastrous, but the sting of “almost” is less a verdict on your potential than an invitation to hone it My new article in @fastcompany.com, written w/ Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, is all about how near misses can teach us more than successes: www.fastcompany.com/91345595/the...

Newly published @bmj.com paper from @suziebailey.bsky.social @chrisham.bsky.social & me, arguing that it’s time to regulate NHS management, but this will not suffice. Significant investment in training, development & support, & wider professionalisation, are needed. #healthpolicy #healthmanagement

So true @rogerkline.bsky.social You can have as many different channels for reporting as you like, but it's what actually happens when someone speaks up that makes the real difference. Or not. The canary in the mine and “the whiff of Mid Staffs” www.linkedin.com/pulse/canary...

CHI review: '45 individuals . . . interviewed, with most describing a culture within their department where change was slow, lacked governance and robust processes, and was influenced by strong and challenging personalities.' www.irishtimes.com/health/2025/...

Second hospital has waitlist initiative funding suspended over ‘potential financial irregularities’ www.irishtimes.com/health/2025/...

Priscilla Lynch: Children’s health crisis will roll on until there is transparency about how public money is spent www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...