Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

It is good that we are having this debate. There are serious issues around staffing levels in some of the hospitals in the State and particularly in emergency departments. This has been exacerbated by overcrowding and the inadequate bed capacity. The environment is not conducive to safety for the staff or the patients. There is something fundamentally wrong when nursing staff from emergency departments say the situation is dangerous. It is around staffing levels and where people can sometimes wait for days in emergency departments.

This is a very wealthy country. This is not rocket science. We are talking about a system where people would be treated in time and with respect. This has a knock-on effect on staff morale and retention and recruitment. The new HSE CEO, Mr. Bernard Gloster, was before the Joint Committee on Health during the week. He said in his opening statement that one of the most important issues in his tenure is staff recruitment and retention.

4 o’clock

It is extremely important - I cannot overemphasise it - that we retain the staff we have right now. If we do not retain them, there will be a spiral whereby highly motivated and educated staff who want to stay in the Irish health system will not be able to do so because of the housing situation and because of being burned out. They want to partake in this environment but the situation is not conducive to this. That is a very important point. The new CEO said he would make it one of the most important elements of his tenure.

As to the framework for safe staffing and skill mix, it is a good concept but it needs to be fully implemented. I have worked in hospital environments before and I know the most fundamental part of working in such an environment is having the proper skill mix, whether you are a healthcare assistant or a nurse. Everybody needs this. However, once that is out of kilter - it happens on a regular basis - people will die. There will be situations where people cannot be attended to. This is how serious it is. The framework is a very good concept, but it is kind of arbitrary in its implementation.

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