Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Every day, dedicated healthcare staff do their best to serve patients in their communities, but we can all agree that our health system is under increased pressure and unprecedented strain. This includes local services that are facing workforce shortages and infrastructure deficits. These problems are not isolated or contained. A lack of alternative and primary care options in our communities feeds through the entire healthcare system. It adds pressure to the emergency departments in our hospitals and ultimately leads to longer lists and waiting times for patients and difficult conditions for healthcare staff.

The recent budget from this Government was a disaster for the healthcare service. It was an act of deliberately underfunding our health service, calling into question its ability to even stand still, never mind to improve access to care and capacity. Remember, the CEO of the HSE himself warned the Government that the budget provided for the health service could not be delivered without significant and punitive risks to the public. That is exactly what has happened. I have seen too many instances where decisions made by the Government have caused our communities to be underserved, put untold pressure on our healthcare staff and short-changed our patients. That needs to end.

At the beginning of this year, my office was in contact with a woman who was pregnant and in distress. She was from south Donegal. She was told she needed a GP referral in order to be seen by a doctor in the maternity departments in Sligo University Hospital or Letterkenny University Hospital. However, GP practice after GP practice in south Donegal told her the same thing. They were full, at capacity, and could not add her to their books. That is the pressure GPs were under and as a result she was unable to be seen by a doctor in either maternity ward. A pregnant woman could not be seen in a hospital. It is a truly shocking state of affairs which speaks to the pressure local health services are under. After contacting the HSE and after a long wait, the lady in question thankfully now has access to a GP, but that problem should not have arisen. We are talking about the year 2024. As a rich country with billions of euro of surpluses, we are coming up short time and again on the basics, such as access to a local GP. Our communities deserve much better and Sinn Féin has a plan to improve our health service. We have practical and realistic goals that can be delivered.

That is why this Private Members' motion should be not just supported but actually implemented.

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