Dáil debates

Tuesday, 2 November 2021

Nurses and Midwives: Motion [Private Members]

 

6:25 pm

Photo of Pa DalyPa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I support this motion. The thing that strikes me most when I speak to nurses is how undervalued they feel. Is it any wonder? There are staff shortages. Nurses are exhausted and stressed and did not receive childcare support at the beginning of the pandemic when they were crying out for it. They did not have access to support staff in pharmacies, adequate security, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, or even adequate catering. Some that I spoke to were just told to get on with it.

There seems to be no strategic vision and strategy in the hospital groups. This can clearly be demonstrated in the example of a haematologist, recently employed in University Hospital Kerry, who was not even supplied with a microscope when he started work. Essential services must be kept, but you can only centralise so much. I ask the Minister to listen to what the nurses are saying. The consultants in University Hospital Kerry, in an unprecedented move, wrote a five-page letter to the South/South West Hospital Group demanding change in the hospital. Too many nurses are doing non-nursing duties.

I ask the Minister to employ more nurses and keep the existing staff that have been there for many years by valuing them. I ask the Minister to be flexible with those who want to work, but want to work fewer hours. We must build isolation rooms, more beds and wards, cath labs and an oncology unit at the hospital. Having just four nurses in a 30-bed ward is unsafe.

If the Minister cannot do any of this, will he at least get them a proper staffroom and changing rooms? The current situation is unsafe.

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