Ms Phil Ní Sheaghdha:

I thank the Deputy for the questions. The staffing numbers are what the Deputy set out. The biggest issue is the vacancies that arise not being filled and the bureaucratic process involved. We set it out earlier. It takes six months at a minimum. We now have a situation where directors of nursing, for example, cannot immediately advertise and fill a post. They have to go through a bureaucratic process, which slows everything down.

The big issue right now is that there is real pressure on maternity and paediatric services in UHL. We had a briefing session before the budget where one of our members from the paediatric service said it is impossible to provide sufficient, safe care given the number of vacancies. There is a vacancy rate of 30% in paediatric services. It is simply too high. Posts are suppressed. Posts required for dementia care, for example, are not being advertised. These are significant and important posts.

From our survey and from speaking with nurses, we know morale is poor. Unfortunately, that is not confined to UHL. It is right across the service now. People feel desperate that there is no end in sight. We had a really bad winter in 2019, when overcrowding hit levels it had never hit before. We then went straight into the Covid-19 pandemic, and now that we are out the other side, we are being hit again with the recruitment embargo. No one can be faulted for saying, "What is the point? I am doing my best." We are working very hard in very difficult circumstances with assault numbers increasing and we are still being told we have to do more with less. It not safe. That is the message we want to send from our members, nurses and midwives working in hospitals and in the community. They are saying that this is not a safe policy. It is not designed to ensure patient safety is front and centre. It just is not. Where we have agreement to recruit numbers to provide a safe level of care, it is not being honoured.