Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have submitted around 1,200 written questions in the past 12 months. The vast majority of those were for the Department of Health, the vast majority of which were replied to citing a recruitment and retention crisis. The Government has blamed a recruitment and retention crisis for every one of the failings in health in particular and at the same time has refused to take any responsibility for it. The Government led us to believe that there were all of the healthcare jobs in the world but nobody was willing to take them. Now, suddenly, it turns out that people are willing to take these jobs but the Government will not put up the money to employ them. The Minister is trying to lay the blame on the shoulders of the CEO of the HSE.

A recruitment freeze in the HSE hurts absolutely everybody but not in a proportionate way. University Hospital Limerick already has one of the highest staff vacancy rates in the country, which is no shock. It is the only model 4 hospital in the country that is not supported by a model 3 hospital. Last week, we saw the trolley numbers break records, with 130 patients on trolleys in one day. The staff work in an environment that completely breaches clinical and patient care guidelines every day and now the Government is having a public fight with the heads of HSE that is going to result in a worsening of the situation and ultimately, in the death of my constituents. I do not use that language lightly but I make no apology for saying what needs to be said in this House.

The responsibility of the Government should be to do no harm but this recruitment freeze may be one of the most harmful things it has done to date. I ask, for the sake of my constituents, that the Minister meets the Minister for public expenditure and the head of the HSE to find and spend whatever money is needed to ensure the long-term sustainability of our health service and what is left of it in the mid-west region.

I listened to the Minister's statement earlier and it can be summed up in one word, which is "more". What he forgot to mention, in the same line of thought, is the whole picture. All of the "more" staff that he referred to are dealing with a population that is much more and an ageing population that is also much more. As there is a GP shortage in Clare and dentists cannot take on new patients, it was inevitable that time spent in hospital was going to increase, as we see more of our citizens lose access to vital primary care.

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