Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 8 February 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

Welfare and Safety of Workers and Patients in Public Health Service: Discussion

Photo of Róisín ShortallRóisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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That is clearly very unfair. I thank Mr. Figgis for the explanation.

I turn to the issue of bullying. This is an additional pressure on staff, who sometimes deal with aggressive patients and people who are with them. There is all the stress associated with working in unsafe environments, with understaffing and so on. Then there is the issue of how staff are treated by management, whether management in a hospital or the HSE. In the short time remaining to me, I would like to hear the witnesses' views on the adequacy of the grievance procedure within the HSE at this time. People have contacted me who are going through that procedure to tell me how inadequate it is. I ask the witnesses, beginning with the representatives from Fórsa, to give their views on that briefly.