Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Last night at 5.20 p.m. I received a telephone call confirming that the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, would not be taking this Commencement matter. I am not surprised by that, but I want to express my appreciation that the Minister of State has come into the House to deal with the matter this morning.

Last week, I listened to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, general secretary, Ms Phil Ní Sheaghdha, on "Morning Ireland". She was speaking after attending the Joint Committee on Health the previous day when she outlined significant nursing staff shortages across our health service. Among the stark facts she revealed at that committee meeting were that 120 cancer patients per day are not getting the treatment they need because four cancer treatment machines are not being used due to staff shortages. She also referred to one maternity hospital that was staffed for 5,000 births but was actually dealing with 8,000 births per year. She was at pains to point out that this does not constitute safe staffing.

On 31 December 2023, there were 2,000 outstanding nursing vacancies on the HSE system. In July of this year, those vacancies were wiped from the system, effectively cancelled. The HSE decided that all outstanding posts that had not being physically filled were cancelled. Ms Ní Sheaghdha also maintained that the staff moratorium has not been lifted in practice. Instead of a moratorium, the HSE has imposed ceilings and caps on recruitment that do not take account of the need for safe staffing or patient demand. Crucially, she also highlighted that directors of nursing have been stripped of their authority to actually make recruitment decisions. The INMO, at the health committee last week, called for a commitment to develop a multi-annual workforce plan and immediately grow the nursing and midwife workforce by a minimum of 2,000 whole-time equivalents annually for the next three years. In the short term, it called for the HSE to end the recruitment moratorium for safety critical nurses and midwives and fill all funded posts, including those not filled but vacant in December 2023.

I anticipate that the Minister of State is going to tell me about the number of additional nurses who have been hired, and that is fine. However, saying that we are increasing the workforce without outlining the actual staffing numbers that are needed does not solve the shortage. This is a shortage that is creating dangerous working conditions for both staff and patients on the ground.

I noticed a comment yesterday from the INMO representative in Cork. The assistant director of industrial relations for the southern region stated: "Despite their best efforts to ensure safe care, our members are facing overwhelming patient numbers in the Emergency Department, further compounded by a staffing shortage worsened by the HSE’s ongoing recruitment freeze." Mr. Kevin Figgis of SIPTU, which also represents large numbers of nursing staff, last week asked the following with regard to those 2,000 posts: "were the posts that went unfilled in 2023 fully funded? And, if they were, where was that money spent?" The Minister of State might be able to answer that question for me. Mr Figgis went on to say:

We believe the failure to fill these posts will continue to place severe pressure on healthcare workers to provide a safe service. The provision of timely and safe care is now an afterthought.

I come from Limerick. As the Minister of State knows, we have had an ongoing health crisis there for a number of years. One of the key aspects is again the shortage of staffing, which was confirmed to me by the INMO. We know the consequences of those shortages of staffing all too well in Limerick.Just last week a lady was told she was 165th in the queue to get bloods taken and that she would be waiting some considerable time. There is evidence of staff shortages, right there. The INMO has taken industrial action not for more money but because of the staff shortage crisis. Will the Minister of State give commitments on how the staff shortage crisis will be tackled by the Government? When will this moratorium be lifted in practice?