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

This day last week, I attended a protest at Cavan General Hospital. That protest was held by workers from across the hospital, including nurses, clerical workers, porters and healthcare assistants. They were represented by three unions, which were Fórsa, SIPTU and the INMO. The demonstration was held as the first step in opposition to the pay and numbers strategy introduced by the HSE in the summer and the fact that all positions which were unfilled as of 31 December 2023 are now declared obsolete or, in the words of the HSE, decommissioned. I spoke at length with different individuals there. One clerical worker told me that she frequently works up to three hours in addition to her nine-hour shift to ensure that patient files are properly updated.

Nurses tell me that even on their days off, they get text messages asking them to come in to provide cover because the service is chronically understaffed. They know what it feels like to be in that position and they do not want to jeopardise the safety of the patients. However, they are jeopardising their own health and well-being because they are losing their days off and they are also losing out on time with their families. Most of this additional work is not paid as overtime but it is done as time in lieu, but the difficulty is taking that time off subsequently when there is such chronic understaffing. This is having an impact on patient care and the healthcare workers themselves. Many are considering going abroad where they can do their jobs without having to worry about coming in on their days off or doing additional hours.

It is evident that the HSE and the Department of Health are trying to ignore the unions, which are there to represent the healthcare workers. We saw what happened with the CDNTs. There was no engagement with staff in CDNTs prior to the Progressing Disability Services programme being set up, and it has been a disaster. If something is not done, we are heading down the same route here. We need realistic workforce planning. The HSE must directly employ staff and stop engaging agency staff, which is far more expensive. There is a clear road to privatisation and that must stop.

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