Dr. Gabrielle Colleran:

The Senator has hit the nail on the head. Many of us here today are saying the same as we said before, but it is actually worse. With time, one does start to lose the belief that people will listen meaningfully and then act. Sometimes we come here and speak but we do not feel heard when we do not see action. We have to see engagement and action and that is what is missing. Those of us on the consultant front just want to have enough colleagues for safe manageable workloads, for call rosters that are safe to be able to provide the care for all the patients that need to see us. I just want for anyone who needs to see a consultant to see them within six weeks so that no patient has a worse outcome because of the wait. These are basic things. We are not asking to have the highest number of consultants in the EU. We are just asking that we can aim to be average.

We know from our consultants that they go above and beyond but I will say, without being too pointed, that sometimes we are our own worst enemy. We take a vocational approach and, as a result, it is used as an excuse to treat us badly and breach our contract. The same applies to the other healthcare workers here too, and that is just not good enough. We have seen the agility and the innovation and commitment shown during the pandemic. We do not want claps; we do not want nice words. What we want is a system with capacity to meet need so that we can do our jobs safely and our patients get an excellent service. Supporting us is the thanks we want. Talk is cheap but support requires resources.