David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Here is the reality, however. I have listened carefully to what Mr. Mulvany has had to say for the past couple of minutes. It is my view that there was a lack of leadership, political leadership and leadership within the HSE. It is not just my view. Phil Ní Sheaghdha from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, IMNO, said, "We know that there is an inability to act fast enough, despite all of the issues being raised in the middle of the summer of this year, both with the HSE and with the department by our union." She made the point that many of these problems were "entirely predictable", as they were. Matthew Sadlier of the Irish Medical Organisation, IMO, said "we have been shouting about this issue of under-resourcing and the under physical capacity of the number of beds in our service for as long as I have been involved in the organisation, which is 20 years". He also said there was "a very real likelihood that some patients will have died as a result of avoidable delays in the health system in recent weeks". Fergal Hickey, of the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine, said that "The problem needed to be addressed now, it was time to stop moving the deck chairs on the Titanic".

The emergency department task force, to be honest, has been pretty much wound down by the HSE. When that group first met, very senior officials from the HSE and the Department were attending those meetings in big numbers and it was meeting frequently. It met twice last year. The HSE is not engaging with the stakeholders in the way it should. The consequence of all this is what we have been looking at, watching and observing over recent weeks. We even saw RTÉ going into accident and emergency departments and the resulting pictures and video footage of trolleys stacked up and patients waiting. We know people were sleeping on the floors in accident and emergency departments. People have also been waiting longer for ambulances and, in some cases, waiting for days on end for care. Mr. Mulvany went on to say in his opening statement that there had been a substantial improvement in the situation in the past week. He was referring to the number of people on trolleys.

There were 506 people on trolleys yesterday. That is a huge figure. It is well above the figure for this time last year. The reason it is 506 is because of the work ethic of those on the front line who are doing overtime and as a result of the repurposing of beds that were to be used for elective procedures and other medical purposes, which is a trade-off. That is why it is down. The pressures are still the same.

I want to make request to the Chair. We talk about capacity issues, and they need to be dealt with. I am really concerned about the welfare of the people who work in the healthcare system. They have been through Covid-19 and the cyberattack. They are working around the clock and being asked to do major amounts of overtime. Last year, more than 5,000 assaults or near misses were reported. I obtained that information in response to a parliamentary question I tabled. Obviously, the position in this regard in intolerable. The "Lunchtime Live" programme on Newstalk carried a feature on bullying and harassment within the health service. All these issues are intolerable for those working on the front line and are a consequence of the overcrowding and other difficulties we have in our hospitals.

I am afraid I cannot agree with Mr. Mulvany that there was not a failure of leadership. The evidence would point to a failure of leadership. When a winter plan that is not going to work is put in place, that is a failure of leadership. When capacity reviews, HIQA reports and all the warnings that point to real failings are ignored, that is a failure of leadership. It is not just Mr. Mulvany's leadership; I am talking about the entire HSE leadership. It is my view that the leadership of the HSE failed patients and staff. I strongly believe that this committee needs to shine a spotlight on the welfare of those working in our healthcare system because what they have gone through - they are still experiencing it - is intolerable. We need to look at workforce planning and at how we protect the health and safety and well-being of those who work in our healthcare system because they, as well as patients, pay the price ultimately.