Recruitment freeze will send already ailing health service into chaos this winter
Labour health spokesperson Duncan Smith has warned Government that a grave winter lies ahead for the Health Service if the recruitment freeze goes ahead.
Deputy Smith said:
“At it currently stands, there are almost 900,000 people on waiting lists of some kind. The health system is already totally understaffed by frontline health care workers, and the recruitment freeze announced after the Budget will plunge the system close to collapse.
“Just today, we see a record breaking 130 patients waiting on trolleys in University Hospital Limerick. This is outrageous, and a level of chaos that is replicated nationwide.
“Failure to tackle the systemic crisis in health will lead to poorer health outcomes for patients, and we already know that many people delay going to their local A&E for fear of adding to the overcrowding issue.
“It should not be for patients, or hospital workers, to worry about the chronic failures in health. The Minister and this Coalition must step up and provide a pathway to delivering safe care over the weeks, months and years ahead.
“Right now, there’s an abject failure to do so.”