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

It goes without saying that the staff in Cavan General Hospital are excellent but they are under pressure. The Minister has said that there has been an increase in the number of staff and I appreciate that but there has also been an increase in the number of people using the hospital. There are insufficient numbers of front-line staff, particularly therapists. I was talking to a therapist recently who told me that her caseload for one day was 30 people. That is not sustainable. In the end, because there were only two therapists doing the job and they were each facing heavy caseloads, she ended up quite ill herself and had to take time off because she was so worn down.

Cavan General Hospital, like all hospitals, is currently facing issues because of high flu and Covid numbers. Advisories have been issued to stay away from the emergency department if at all possible and I am concerned about that. While I know the hospital is not referring to genuine emergencies, people are actually afraid to go to the emergency department even when they really do need to go. If something could be done to reduce the number of patients on trolleys and alleviate the overcrowding in the emergency department, that would be very welcome.

Morale in the hospital is quite low. I have talked to staff who feel they are under pressure and that it can be dangerous for themselves and patients when there are insufficient numbers of nurses on wards, for example. Constituents have also contacted me about cancelled or delayed appointments.

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