Working Life: I wouldn't advise people to turn away from stress. I'd say, ‘Turn to meaning'
Dr Jennifer Wilson O'Raghallaigh, principal clinical psychologist in liaison psychiatry, Beaumont Hospital
'As a psychologist, I look at the emotional impact of living with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Managing uncertainty is one of the real challenges for people with IBD. Inflammation can strike anywhere along the digestive tract and you can suddenly have a flare-up.
'Most healthy people can get on with their lives and believe in the myth that we are in control of our bodies. Those with IBD have to manage it, but they can't control it and that's the sting in the tail.
'One of the challenges of this chronic condition is that it can become worse with stress. But asking people why they aren't managing their stress better can be unhelpful. People with stressful lives often have meaningful lives. If we give up the things that are meaningful, our lives can become very small. I wouldn't advise people to turn away from stress. I would say, 'Turn towards meaning'. Rather than leaving stressful things behind, can you pick up things that benefit your health?
'IBD is a complicated picture. By the time I see people, they're often dealing with the shock of a chronic disease diagnosis. They're asking, 'How do I cope with this? How do I leave my house if I can't control my body?'
Dr Jennifer Wilson O'Raghallaigh, psychologist: 'I'm lucky to have partnered with CCI for 15 years, and I'm taking part in their awareness campaign in the lead-up to World IBD Day on May 19." Picture: Moya Nolan.
'My job is to help them adjust, help them face the reality of an imperfect body, and see if there is something else — like depression — going on besides the adjustment to Crohn's or colitis.
'I'm lucky to have partnered with CCI for 15 years, and I'm taking part in their awareness campaign in the lead-up to World IBD Day on May 19.
'I'm a panellist on its webinar on the day, about Gut to Know, a communication guide.
'When I'm not working, I concentrate on my Irish-speaking, GAA-playing, trad-music-loving kids — not something I envisaged, as I'm originally from Virginia in the US, and only planned to spend one scholarship year at Trinity.
'In my spare time, I enjoy writing. I had a novel published last October, called Mandatory Reporting: A Dublin Mystery. It's about a psychologist, but not me.'
Marking World IBD Day, Crohn's and Colitis Ireland will host a webinar, IBD 101, on Monday, May 19, from 6.30-8.30pm. Details and free registration at www.crohnscolitis.ie
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The Journal
10 hours ago
- The Journal
FactCheck: Have one in eight women in Ireland visited an emergency department after an abortion?
THIS WEEK, AN anti-abortion group called for a meeting with the Minister for Health over concerns about a study into medical outcomes of Irish women who had abortions. The Pro Life Campaign highlighted the study to claim that the legalisation of abortion in 2018 has led to 'adverse consequences' for women that are not being acknowledged. They claim that the study reveals one in eight Irish women has visited the emergency department after having an abortion. But is this figure accurate? The Claim The Pro Life Campaign claim that one in eight – or 12% – of women in Ireland have visited a hospital emergency department after having an abortion. An article on the group's website is headed: ' One in Eight Women in Ireland Visited Emergency Department After Abortion '. It also refers to a study of Irish women carried out between 2019 and 2022, and states that '12% of the women who underwent abortions during this period presented to an emergency department on an unplanned basis'. Pro Life Campaign Pro Life Campaign The Evidence The study referenced in the article called 'Termination of early pregnancy in Ireland: Review of the first four years of inpatient service at a tertiary maternity unit', which was published in the Irish Journal of Sociology on 28 May. The study analysed outcomes for 149 women who had abortions at a single, unnamed maternity hospital in the south of Ireland between 2019 and 2022. It is a broad study that looks at the experiences of the women, where they came from, whether they had been pregnant before, the length of time that they had been pregnant before seeking an abortion, whether they experienced any complications, and other aspects of their care. It is not a nationally representative survey, such as those carried out for opinion polls in newspapers or occasionally for advertising purposes, both of which involve carefully weighting responses by categories such as gender, age, or social class. The findings are instead based on the medical outcomes of a select group of women who attended one hospital over four years; those findings cannot be extrapolated to the wider population to represent the experience of all Irish women. The study is not even representative of all women who had an abortion during the years 2019 to 2022. It only looked at women who had what is called a medical abortion – a termination of pregnancy that is induced by taking medication – after they presented to a hospital to receive one (as opposed to doing so in a community setting). It did not include women who had a medical abortion after being prescribed medication by a GP in a community setting, which is permitted when pregnancies are under nine weeks. This is crucial, because the study says that 90% of terminations in Ireland are community-based, which is relatively unique by international standards. Hospital-based terminations of pregnancy – such as those analysed in the study – make up just 10% of abortions in Ireland. Furthermore, the study excluded those who first presented to the hospital for surgical abortions, which involve the use of instruments and women going under anaesthetic. It is therefore completely false to suggest that one-in-eight women who had an abortion in Ireland since the procedure was legalised had to go to an emergency department afterwards. So where did the figure come from? Advertisement The Journal contacted the Pro Life Campaign, who referred us to a sample size outlined under 'Table 4′ of the study, which deals with 'complications' that resulted from some abortions. The section on 'complications' describes how some of the women involved in the study required blood transfusions and extended hospital stays after receiving an abortion, while there were also a small number of admissions to high-dependency units. The group of women who were recorded as suffering 'complications' was 34 – the majority of the 149 women did not. Those 34 women – or 23% of the women in the study – were counted because they sought a medical review after they were discharged from the hospital. Of those 34 women, 18 involved unplanned presentations by individuals to the emergency department (the other 16 attended for scheduled clinic appointments). That is the figure referred to in the claim by the Pro Life Campaign: 18 out of 149 women – equivalent to roughly one in eight, or 12% – made an unplanned presentation to an emergency department after terminating their pregnancy. The study states that these presentations were 'primarily due to concerns regarding infection or heavy/irregular vaginal bleeding'. In response to the query about its headline, a spokesperson for the Pro Life Campaign said the group was 'not referring to the entire female population of Ireland, whether or not they had abortions'. (At the time of publication, the claim that one-in-eight women in Ireland visited an emergency department after having an abortion still featured in a headline and graphic on the group's website.) The group also called for more research and said it 'remains to be clarified' whether the findings would be replicated among the wider population. 'It is normal for research studies to obtain data from a specific sample of the population,' the spokesperson said. 'Most media reports, including those in The Journal , do not cover a statistical discussion of how representative they are of the wider population.' The group highlighted two articles by this publication by way of example, both of which involved nationally representative surveys carried out among the wider population, a contrast to the abortion study which involved a relatively small group of women at one hospital. The authors of the study concluded that there were 'low complication rates' among the women whose abortion procedures were analysed, something that is in keeping with international studies that show that early abortions (ie before 12 weeks) are safe. It should be noted that in any area of healthcare, complicated outcomes are – because of their nature – more likely to be seen in a hospital setting rather than by a GP in the community. Rather than suggesting that the complicated outcomes were a cause for concern about abortion services, the study concluded by suggesting there should be more open access to abortion in Ireland, and pointed to the negative impact of the mandatory three-day wait that women must undergo between being certified by a GP and having an abortion. The Verdict The Pro Life Campaign claimed that one out of every eight women in Ireland has visited an emergency department after an abortion. The group also said that '12% of the women who underwent abortions' between 2019 and 2022 made an unplanned visit to an emergency department afterwards. The figure is based on 18 (or 12%) of 149 women who had abortions at one hospital in the south of the country over a four-year period, whose experiences were analysed as part of a recently published study. It is not a nationally representative sample, and did not include those who specifically presented to the hospital for surgical abortions or the 90% of women whose terminations take place in a community setting. In responses to queries from The Journal , the group said it was not referring to the entire population of Ireland, and defended its wording about the study's overall findings about 'women in Ireland' as normal practice by the media. We therefore rate the claim that one-in-eight women who had abortions in Ireland over a four-year period as FALSE . As per our verdict guide , this means the claim is inaccurate. The Journal's FactCheck is a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network's Code of Principles. You can read it here . For information on how FactCheck works, what the verdicts mean, and how you can take part, check out our Reader's Guide here . You can read about the team of editors and reporters who work on the factchecks here . Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... It is vital that we surface facts from noise. Articles like this one brings you clarity, transparency and balance so you can make well-informed decisions. We set up FactCheck in 2016 to proactively expose false or misleading information, but to continue to deliver on this mission we need your support. Over 5,000 readers like you support us. If you can, please consider setting up a monthly payment or making a once-off donation to keep news free to everyone. Learn More Support The Journal
Irish Times
11 hours ago
- Irish Times
Multinational nursing home operators do not deliver lower standards of care, says spokesman
There is no evidence to support the claim that private sector nursing homes provide poorer care than public ones, a spokesman for the private and voluntary nursing home sector has said. Tadhg Daly, Chief Executive of Nursing Homes Ireland was speaking in the wake of an RTÉ programme on two Irish nursing homes run by French multinational Emeis . The undercover documentary alleged serious failings in the care being delivered. Mr Daly cited a 15-year review of the sector last year by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) that noted a 'clear trend' of large corporate groups purchasing Irish nursing homes but found no associated negative effect on care. The report said Hiqa 'does not currently have any specific concerns' regarding the quality of care provided in nursing homes that are owned or operated by these large corporate groups. READ MORE [ What is Emeis and where are its Irish care homes located? Opens in new window ] However, it said the consolidation of nursing home ownership by a small number of large operators represented a 'systemic risk' that should be addressed as part of an overall strategy for the sector. Mr Daly said there must be a regulatory regime that delivers the 'high quality care that our older people require and deserve'. The policy of 'Ireland Inc' was to encourage foreign direct investment in all sectors of the economy, including the healthcare sector, he said. 'You can have bad outcomes in the private system and bad outcomes in the public system,' he said. [ Review of all nursing homes operated by Emeis Ireland requested by Department of Health Opens in new window ] Emeis Ireland, formerly Orpea, apologised for what was revealed by the RTÉ documentary, which involved secret filming inside The Residence, in Portlaoise, Co Laois, and the Beneavin Manor nursing home, in Glasnevin, Dublin 11. Minister for Older People Kieran O'Donnell met Hiqa in the wake of the programme which he described as 'extremely distressing'. The share price of the French multinational, then called Orpea, collapsed a few years ago following the publication of a book in France about care standards in its homes, with a French state investment fund eventually bailing it out. The fund remains the largest shareholder of the business, which had global revenues of €5.6 billion last year. The French multinational is the largest operator in the Irish nursing home sector, with its Irish subsidiaries owned by way of a company in Luxembourg called Central & Eastern Europe Health Care Services Holding Sarl. Shane Scanlan, chief executive of The Alliance – Supporting Nursing Homes, a nursing home trade association said smaller independent nursing home groups provide a better standard of care in general than multinational groups do, because they are 'on the ground' and their owners are more in touch with what is happening in their home. 'Emeis has €5.6 billion generated in global funding and you look at the programme and there aren't even sheets, basic incontinence wear, there's poor staffing levels. That's completely unacceptable from an organisation generating that level of revenue.' A Hiqa report from an inspection of the Portlaoise nursing home in February noted a weak organisation structure was affecting the quality of care being provided. It also noted 'noncompliance' in a number of key areas. There were 70 residents in the home at the time of the visit. Although changes had been introduced in the wake of criticisms made after a previous inspection, the report said, 'this inspection found that the overall governance and management of the centre had deteriorated since'. A November 2024 inspection of the Beneavin home, where there were 72 residents at the time, did not find any instance of noncompliance. 'From what the residents told the inspector and from what was observed, it was evident that residents were very happy living in Firstcare Beneavin Manor and their rights were respected in how they spent their days,' the report said. In a statement on Friday, Emeis noted a request from the Minister for Older People for Hiqa to conduct a national review of its nursing home facilities and said it will co-operate fully with all regulatory and statutory bodies. It said Hiqa and the HSE have visited Beneavin Manor and The Residence Portlaoise, and it has separately initiated on-site audits and 'detailed corrective actions'. It said the 'shocking and unacceptable' footage showing 'poor and abusive practice' is not representative of the professionalism and commitment of its employees in Ireland.
The Journal
15 hours ago
- The Journal
Taoiseach calls for HIQA's regulations to be examined following RTÉ nursing home investigation
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