Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and congratulate her on her elevation. My colleagues have already addressed the issue of critical care bed capacity so I will focus on some of the other risks that exist within the HSE. I will add that hearing the Minister on the radio the other day talking about building bed capacity over the next two years did not really inspire confidence in where we are going. God help those who are sick with anything other than the coronavirus if things continue to spiral out of control.

The winter plan states that a key underlying risk in its implementation is the risk of not being able to attract and retain the appropriate number and calibre of staff for key posts. A significant number of such staff is required. These posts cannot be offered on a permanent basis. We attracted hundreds if not thousands of medical care workers back to this country to put on the green jersey during the Covid-19 pandemic and then we offered them nothing. Some were not even offered jobs. Meanwhile, I heard the director of a nursing home complaining yesterday that the HSE was stealing her staff, both special care assistants and nurses. We cannot do this. We have to treat the entire healthcare system as one unit. This is the plan's Achilles' heel. Having identified the risk, the plan should go on to mitigate against it. What plans have been made to attract these staff? They are highly qualified people. We cannot offer them rubbish contracts. If we are going to bring them in, we have to give them decent contracts.

Additional funding for bed capacity is all well and good. My colleague, Senator Annie Hoey, mentioned the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, in the last few minutes. The plan sets out several ambitious targets but does not outline the number of extra staff that will be needed and recruited to achieve them. For example, just five days ago there were 80 vacant nursing posts in three main hospitals in Kildare. Some 25 of those posts were in Naas. For months the INMO has sought a funded workforce plan for the HSE. Where is it? As far as I can see it is not in the winter plan. It was forthcoming at the end of last month but it has been referred to the Workplace Relations Committee. Do we have to go through a workplace relations dispute in order to solidify or create decent jobs for these people?

What steps have been taken by the HSE to provide clarity for the nursing unions? I fully support the proposal to care for those with high and moderate levels of frailty in their own homes. That is welcome. I also welcome the 4.7 million additional home support hours provided for in the plan. Again, this is an ambitious target. It is predicated on the ability to recruit staff, with Family Carers Ireland estimating the required figure at about 800. We have to find 800 support staff for care in the home. Fórsa is meeting the HSE today and the Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union, SIPTU, has already raised the issue. It is frighteningly late in the day for the HSE to be discussing this when we know that healthcare workers have been severely and disproportionately affected by Covid-19. A director of nursing in one nursing home was on the radio yesterday afternoon. A neighbouring home had staff with Covid-19, including both care assistants and nurses. She went over and volunteered in that nursing home. The movement of caring staff from house to house will be a problem.

Family Carers Ireland has concerns about additional pressures on its members and the need for vital supports such as daycare, personal protective equipment, PPE, transport and essential therapies. I could go on and on, but like most other people I am running out of time. I appreciate our position regarding this plan but as in every other area affected by Covid-19, the chickens have come home to roost. Years of underinvestment have left us facing into a hard winter. This is not the Minister of State's fault but that of successive Governments. God knows what is coming down the line if the measures being taken by the Government do not get public buy-in. Today I read about nurses trying to get into Dublin facing a five-hour tailback because of the roadblocks Senator McDowell referred to earlier. That is simply not good enough. I apologise to the Acting Chairman for going over time.