David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I might put a number of questions now because I will get caught on time and I want to cover as much ground as I can. I have another question which is specific to Ms Ní Sheaghdha and I have a general question for all of the witnesses to come back on, if they can.

My question for Ms Ní Sheaghdha is on the survey. It is very distressing to read what happened to front-line workers, it has to be said. We do not have time to go over all of the responses. I will refer to one respondent, who stated returning to work does not mean being 100% recovered and that employers should learn to accommodate staff returning from Covid special leave and support them to get back into shape instead of pushing them even more. Ms Ní Sheaghdha said in her opening statement and submission that a long-term process will be required to deal with the psychological impact that all of this has had on nurses and front-line staff, that it is in this phase that many staff will be running on empty and that it is important to be able to respond to the needs of staff and support them. She also said that if a new surge of the virus emerges, the health service must have the workforce to deliver services and adequate supports. Will Ms Ní Sheaghdha outline specifically what needs to be done to support front-line workers, whether because of the psychological impact, physical impact or whatever? What practical supports in the here and now will be needed?

I am not sure whether the witnesses saw the sessions we had last week with the HSE, when we spoke about capacity and the obvious fact that we still have to deal with Covid in our acute hospital settings. There may well be a surge but even the levels there at present require a lot of attention from front-line staff. We also have all of the ongoing non-Covid care. We have the programme to catch up on all of the missed care, which is necessary. How will any of this be done with the current capacity? It just cannot be done. Will the witnesses give us their view on what is needed in the short term in terms of beds, staff and other supports, such as physical infrastructure? What is needed in the coming months and the next year in our health service to ensure we can deal with Covid and non-Covid care and have some chance of dealing with the catch-up programme? I know it is a general question but it is an important one with regard to what is needed in the here and now.

My specific question was to Ms Ní Sheaghdha on the survey and the more general broader point on capacity is for all of the witnesses if they want to respond to it.