Minister must stop pointing fingers and start delivering answers on CUH crisis
Minister must stop pointing fingers and start delivering answers on CUH crisis - The Labour Party
Labour’s Eoghan Kenny TD has accused Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill of engaging in a public blame game over staffing shortages at Cork University Hospital (CUH), warning that patients are being left to suffer the consequences.
Deputy Kenny, who earlier this month revealed through a Parliamentary Question that CUH had lost 50% of its CT scanning capacity due to staffing shortages, said the Minister’s latest criticism of hospital management raises serious questions about accountability at the highest levels of the health service.
Deputy Kenny said:
“Frankly, I am growing tired of seeing the Minister for Health publicly criticise CUH management while patients continue to face delays accessing essential services.
“Earlier this month, I exposed the fact that CUH had lost half of its CT scanning capacity because of staffing shortages. At that point, 701 patients were waiting for CT scans, including 292 urgent cases. This should ring alarm bells.
“These are patients waiting for scans that could be critical to diagnosing serious illnesses. They deserve far better than a public row between the Minister and hospital management.
“The Minister repeatedly points to 233 new recruits as though that figure alone answers the concerns being raised. Yet we are now hearing from the hospital’s chief executive that more than 120 of those posts were associated with the new surgical hub.
“Were these staff actually available to address the shortages in existing services? How many were radiographers? How many additional posts did CUH seek approval to fill, and how many were refused?
“If the Minister believes CUH has sufficient resources to operate its services safely, then she should publish the evidence. If it does not, she must explain what she intends to do about it.
“Of course CUH management must be accountable for the decisions it makes. Nobody is disputing that. But the Minister is responsible for the health service. She cannot simply point the finger at hospital management every time serious problems emerge and expect that to be the end of the matter.
“Political accountability does not stop at the hospital gates.
“We are talking about one of the busiest hospitals in the country, serving patients from across Cork and the wider Munster region.
“What patients need to hear now is not another criticism of hospital management. They need to know when the scanners will be operating at full capacity, when vacant positions will be filled and what steps are being taken to ensure that urgent diagnoses are not delayed.”
Deputy Kenny confirmed that he will submit further Parliamentary Questions seeking a full breakdown of recruitment approvals, outstanding radiographer vacancies and the measures being taken to restore CT scanning capacity.