Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach for the opportunity to speak on the motion. I also thank Deputy McNamara and his office for bringing this forward today. The current situation in hospitals across the country is absolutely dire, as the Minister of State will be aware. The fact that 2022 was the worst year on record for overcrowding in Irish hospitals is sadly not surprising. I have been contacted by many constituents in recent times regarding overcrowding and long waiting lists and some of the situations and wait times patients have been forced to endure are absolutely appalling. The fact that more than 812,000 patients were on national public hospital waiting lists at the end of 2022 is incredibly concerning and should be a clear sign to the Government that our health system is in crisis. The situation will only continue to get worse if drastic measures are not taken as soon as possible.

I have been continuously raising concerns regarding Letterkenny University Hospital and the seemingly continuous scaling back of services there. The staff at the hospital are expected to work under severe pressure constantly and it is just not sustainable or acceptable.

Following an inspection in the hospital in November, HIQA has raised concerns regarding overcrowding in the emergency department and the need for improvements to address clinical governance. It has said that immediate action is required to address medical staffing levels at Letterkenny University Hospital. HIQA also stated that further immediate work is required to address deficits in a number of areas, including the comprehensive infection screening programme for patients, improving learning from patient incidents, fully implementing the clinical handover of patients and fully integrating safe processes to manage emergency department patient attendances at the hospital. In order to effectively address any of these issues, staffing levels need to be addressed immediately. It is clear that understaffing is a significant issue in Letterkenny with one nurse claiming it is unsafe and inhumane. As she rightly states, nurses do not go into nursing to work in crisis management and nor should they be expected to.

Recruitment is only part of the solution. We need to focus on retention too, as many nurses in Donegal have chosen to leave the county and often the country in search of better and less stressful work, particularly over the past year. I want to take this opportunity to recognise the 88 overseas nurses and midwives who have helped in filling this gap by taking up roles in Letterkenny University Hospital since the beginning of last year. I speak on behalf of all the people of Donegal when I say their presence is welcome and very much appreciated. There is no doubt but that the hospital would not be able to function without them. As adjusting to a new country and a new health system is never easy, I urge the Government to ensure that our overseas medical staff are supported in this adjustment.

I also will take this opportunity to once again urge the Government and the HSE to collaborate with Cuba in sending doctors to Ireland to relieve pressure on Ireland's health service. Cuba has in the past provided medical services in 165 countries with more than 605,000 employees. The country currently serves 59 nations but apparently Ireland is very different. The HSE relies heavily on overseas doctors, nurses and midwives to staff hospitals and collaboration with Cuba would be a great opportunity for Ireland to address the severe crisis we are currently experiencing in our health service. The Government should be jumping at this opportunity, yet the Minister has failed to engage with me or the Cuban ambassador on this issue, despite numerous attempts and despite it being raised here in the House and directly with him. There has been no response. Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, the Western Trust in the North and Enniskillen hospital recently started an engagement with the Cuban authorities and the Cuban Embassy about getting Cuban doctors to help to staff the Enniskillen general hospital, which has had severe problems because of staffing levels. They can talk to the Cubans and see if it can be done but we cannot do it here and we cannot even get the Minister to acknowledge that it has been raised with him. That is a sad reflection. It calls into question whether we genuinely want to solve this problem. Sadly, the lack of interest or engagement indicates to me that the Minister is not actually serious about addressing the crisis in our health system. This is incredibly disappointing and I would urge the Minister to act in the best interest of patients at this stage and actually engage.

I also support calls in this motion for the digitisation of the health system and the introduction of electronic health records. The fact that we are still waiting for this to happen despite the fact that the European Investment Bank loaned the State €200 million to implement electronic health records over three years ago is concerning. Our failure to modernise our health system leaves us outdated and lagging behind many other countries. This is where we could be utilising our overseas staff much better. Their experience of other health systems and digitisation is valuable and we have failed to recognise this as the opportunity that it is. The Government needs to wake up and see this crisis for what it is. We should be grabbing every opportunity and not letting it pass us by. We need targeted investment in the health service and I urge the Government to accept this motion today as the first step in recognising and addressing this issue. The reality is that the Government let the public service get run down so badly that people will accept anything to resolve it. That is what we are seeing now with privatisation.

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