Nurses, midwives, and paramedics are being “pushed to the brink” due to under staffing and overcrowding in Accident and Emergency Departments, says Labour health spokesperson Duncan Smith TD.
Speaking over the weekend, Deputy Smith said “tens of thousands of health workers are experiencing unprecedented levels of burnout and the public are losing confidence in our health service.
“More shameful records are expected to be broken next week.
“Something has to give. The HSE has a duty to provide a safe environment for all health workers and patients.
“The reality is this just is not happening in the vast majority of hospitals and it is causing serious damage to workers’ physical and mental health.
“We need a new course of action to get to the root of these old and persistent problems.
“The Government sounds like a broken record every January.
“All health workers and patients get is tea, sympathy and excuses.
“We have never spent so much money on our health service yet we are seeing more people on trolleys and longer waiting lists.
“It is not good enough. People need real community care alternatives to hospital emergency departments.
“That is at the heart of the overcrowding crisis. A lack of options.”
Deputy Smith says that “stronger coordination” between community care facilities and hospital should be made to “ensure that step down beds are available in the community for speedy discharges and that home help is readily available for people.
“Government must also commit to work hand in glove with our GPs, especially those providing out-of-hours services, to better support primary care,” he says.