Frances Black (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I support Senator Boyhan's amendment to the Order of Business. Yesterday at the Joint Committee on Health, we heard from representatives from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, the Irish Hospital Consultants Association and the Irish Medical Organisation and it was shocking to hear what they had to say. We heard about the disgraceful treatment of student nurses during this pandemic. Student nurses are exhausted. They are expected to work over and above their undergraduate status, they are exposed to the dangers of Covid and they get either no payment at all or an allowance of €50.79 per week. Failure to pay them amounts to exploitation.

A common thread running through all the submissions is understaffing and the negative impact this is having on patient care. Everyone is in agreement that the nurses are prepared to jeopardise their own health to save lives. The increase in spending on health of €4 billion is to be welcomed but it could be wasted if staffing levels are not addressed. Understaffing of hospitals can lead to poor outcomes for patients and increase the number of deaths. We have relied on recruiting nurses from abroad but with the travel restrictions this may prove impossible. It is important to retain Irish nurses in Ireland and increase the number of college places so we can satisfy the demand for nurses. The allowance that was paid in March must now be reintroduced.

The mental and physical toll of this pandemic on nursing staff is enormous. Some 50 nurses per week are getting infected by the virus. Research has shown that front-line hospital staff and other key workers have a higher chance of experiencing mental health difficulties during the pandemic. The Covid-19 pandemic has created stressful working environments for many people. Having regular contact with people who experience severe symptoms of Covid-19 or die from it becomes traumatic over time. It is important that the necessary mental health services are made available to all front-line workers experiencing trauma from dealing with the impact of this pandemic.

I thank all the healthcare workers and front-line workers who are risking their health to save lives. We are deeply indebted to them all. However, although saying thank you is important, they are not enough. If this gratitude is to be given meaning, it should lead to an overdue reassessment of who we value most in society and how we treat them. It should not have taken a pandemic to expose how poorly paid, insecure and badly treated so many health workers, without whom society cannot function, truly are. I would like to ask the Minister to come in and give us an update.

I agree with Senator Wall on the Jadotville men. We need to do something about it at this point as it is just not on.