Government must lift recruitment restrictions as hospital overcrowding worsens – Bacik
Government must lift recruitment restrictions as hospital overcrowding worsens - Bacik - The Labour Party
Labour leader Ivana Bacik TD challenged Minister Jack Chambers at Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil over unsafe conditions at Cork University Hospital (CUH) following reports of overcrowding and staff shortages.
Deputy Bacik said the Minister’s response missed the central question of how this Government expects hospitals to provide safe care without the staff and funding they need.
Deputy Bacik said:
“On RTÉ this morning, a woman described how her elderly mother asked for help to go to the toilet for two hours at Cork University Hospital.
“Seventy patients were on trolleys, and every resuscitation bed was full. That is what overcrowding means for patients who are already frightened and unwell.
“CUH’s chief executive says the hospital is short more than 1,000 staff going into winter.
“Doctors are warning that people could die because the hospital cannot provide timely care.
“Staff can give everything they have on a shift and still be unable to get to every patient who needs them.
“Minister Chambers missed the point.
“When doctors raise a patient safety warning, the first question for this Government should be what the hospital needs to make care safe. Instead, we have had a row about how staff raised their concerns while restrictions on recruitment remain in place.
“The Minister for Health says CUH is operating ‘on par’ with other hospitals. What reassurance is that when trolley numbers nationally are up 12 per cent on last year?
“More than 12,000 patients received care in inappropriate locations in September alone. That’s before winter sets in.
“This Government could have funded hospitals this year on the basis of the patients they actually see and the staff they need to treat them. Instead, it has kept recruitment controls in place while hospital teams warn that they cannot deliver safe care.
“Labour has long called for honesty in our budgeting when it comes to health. That requires an approach that reflects the cost of meeting patient demand, and for recruitment restrictions to be lifted so hospitals can fill the posts they need to safely staff hospitals and provide patient care.”