The Irish Medical Organisation has called on the Health Service Executive (HSE) to provide more alcohol detox facilities, following concerns raised by the North Mayo coroner.
Delegates voted yesterday at the IMO's annual conference in Killarney to accept a motion tabled by the Mayo GP branch of the organisation and backed by North Mayo coroner Dr Eleanor Fitzgerald.
Dr Fitzgerald told delegates she was alarmed by the number of young women in particular who were dying of alcohol poisoning and related conditions in the last few years.
"At least 50 per cent of the inquests in the last year that came before me were alcohol-related," she said. "If these were diseases, such as asthma or cancer, there would be an outcry."
She said there was nowhere for doctors in the area to send women and men suffering from alcoholism.
She routinely sent women to Castlebar hospital A&E department for treatment where they could be waiting long hours before beginning detox treatment and might be discharged to detox at home because of lack of beds.
"If living alone or without supervision, the woman might continue to drink and risk overdosing with alcohol. She cannot be sent to psychiatric services because they say it is an addiction problem, they don't want to know," she said.
Dr Fitzgerald said there is a long waiting list for addiction counsellors and no residential care centre to send sufferers. "Up in Mayo and Galway we are having tremendous difficulty in getting them looked after.
"We are appealing to the HSE for help. We need a dedicated service with counselling in a residential setting," she said.
On the issue of nursing homes, the IMO expressed concern about the proposed "fair deal" scheme for nursing home residents, which would see a percentage of the value of a person's home going toward their upkeep in residential care.
New IMO president Dr Paula Gilvarry said the scheme was a tax on disability and represented discrimination against older people and was totally unfair.
Delegates agreed the methods of funding nursing home care and care in the home was inequitable and the "fair deal" proposals would perpetuate that.
They also called on the HSE to ensure the provision of fully resourced community services for older people who want to stay in their own home before introducing new criteria which will limit eligibility for public-funded nursing home care.
The organisation also passed a motion calling on the introduction of a graduated licensing system for new drivers which would include night-time restrictions and peer passenger restrictions for young drivers.
Dr Declan Bedford told the delegates that a disproportionately high number of newly-licensed drivers are killed on Irish roads and graduation schemes have been shown to improve crash figures in other countries.
In North Carolina, there was a 47 per cent reduction in night- time crashes when night restrictions on young drivers were introduced," he said.
"And in California, a 34 per cent reduction was achieved with peer passenger restriction." He said the best passenger for a young person to have in a car is a middle-aged or older woman.
