Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

Serious and significant damage has been done to the health service over the last five to six years, with huge cuts of €3 billion and 11,000 staff. Again this year we have €619 million of cuts and 2,600 staff lost. I pay tribute to health staff all over the country who work above and beyond the call of duty, every hour of every day. I especially wish to pay tribute to the dedicated and committed staff at South Tipperary General Hospital. This is a progressive, modern hospital which, in spite of a loss of one quarter of its budget and almost 200 staff, has increased its activity levels over the last few years. It is now akin to a regional hospital, with patients attending from north Tipperary, Waterford, Cork and Limerick.

Cuts to budgets and reductions in staff have serious implications for patients, and one of the serious problems at the hospital is the ongoing difficulty for patients on trolleys, not just in the emergency department, but also in the corridors and the atrium of South Tipperary General Hospital. This is simply unacceptable and must stop. I have made continual representations on this. I finally got a commitment from the HSE for the opening of ten beds which were closed in the hospital. Even though there is a significant number of patients on trolleys, beds were actually closed in the hospital. There is a commitment to open those beds and to provide additional staff for the emergency department. However, the national recruitment service is simply unworkable and there are huge delays in filling posts. I call on the Minister to allow for local recruitment in cases such as this. There is an ongoing difficult situation in respect of patients on trolleys. Beds have been closed and we have approval to open those beds, but that has been delayed by the delay in appointing staff through the national recruitment service. That could and should be done locally and I ask the Minister to ensure that approval is given for filling those posts through local competition.

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