Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Almost 70,000 health workers will go on work-to-rule next Monday. The issue is not about pay or conditions but the intolerable staffing levels in our health service. Not every part of the health service is impacted, but where it is staff are at boiling point. What action is the Government going to take to avert the industrial dispute that will start on Monday? We have gross understaffing in parts of our mental health and disability services, particularly in the community. Within hospitals, the spend on agency has increased to €250 million this year. The cost has been increasing in recent years. Even our new national children's hospital, the jewel in the crown of the health service, is 382.8 whole-time equivalents short of what is required to maintain existing services when they move into the new building next year.

A report was sent by Children's Health Ireland to the HSE and the Department of Health in October 2023 but it is yet to receive a response. The public are expecting at the very least the same level of service, and indeed more services, when the new hospital opens next year. We need that staffing.

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