Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This motion tonight highlights the terrible situation our health system is currently in and puts forward real solutions that can assist in turning this around. A recent survey carried out by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, found that 65% of nursing graduates are currently considering emigrating due to the cost of living. This Government has failed to tackle the cost-of-living and the housing crises. This is forcing healthcare workers to emigrate and preventing many others from coming home.

On the children's disability network teams, CDNTs, a census was carried out by the HSE just over a year ago, which found that 30% of staff places are vacant. That has not been addressed during the year. The CDNTs are simply not capable, given this level of understaffing, of carrying out their role in the delivery of assessment of need and follow-on therapies for disabled children. Also, we know there are insufficient numbers of GPs. Constituents are telling me that they cannot get appointments in the local primary healthcare centre. They are ringing and ringing and no one answers. Eventually, if they get an appointment and get blood tests done, they have to then ring back in to get those results. Then they are referred to a doctor if there is an issue of concern. To me that makes no sense. Some people are giving up because they cannot get through and it is possible that serious issues are being ignored and are not being addressed.

The Minister has failed to put a workforce plan in place to deal with the issue of recruitment and retention in the health service and this has to be addressed. It is also the case that where you live determines what treatment you receive. A child in my constituency - and I have raised this issue with the Minister before - was informed that she could not receive an insulin pump because she was being treated in Cavan General Hospital but that she could receive one if she transferred her treatment to Our Lady Of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda or to CHI at Temple Street. This motion also highlights the complete failure of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, to tackle the housing crisis that has forced so many healthcare professionals to emigrate and to prevent them from returning. The Government has to commit to urgently review its current housing plan, to increase its targets for social and affordable housing for renting and buying, to reduce rents and to ban rent increases for a number of years. This also demonstrates a total failure by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, to ensure that adequate numbers come through, as well as training and course places for healthcare professionals.

In reply to a recent parliamentary question, I was informed that in this academic year only an additional 17 places were created in physiotherapy and none was created in occupational therapy or in speech and language therapy. The Government must ensure that there are adequate numbers of training and course places for healthcare professionals to fill the major gaps in our health service workforce. It must urgently identify, examine and consider all potential mechanisms to address the cost-of-living barriers to recruitment and retention of key workers and offer job guarantees to healthcare graduates. I support this motion.

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