Doran: HSE plan 'doesn't address the shortage of staff'

The Health Service Executive is being accused of not doing enough to address staff shortages.

Doran: HSE plan 'doesn't address the shortage of staff'

The Health Service Executive is being accused of not doing enough to address staff shortages.

The HSE's Service Plan for 2015 contains a proposal to cut the number of agency staff by 53%.

Up to 1,700 new permanent posts will be created under the plan, including jobs for midwives and consultants in maternity services, as well as nurses and doctors.

The breakdown has yet to be confirmed.

However, Liam Doran from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation says a greater number of new recruits are needed.

He said: "It's replacing agencies spending, which is already there, with permanent staff. That's welcome, it stabilises, it's good, but it doesn't address the shortage of staff.

"It doesn't address the corners that are being cut, it doesn't address the compromising of care because you haven't got the right nurse in the right place at the right time.

"So it's additional staff we want."

The INMO said that in order "to address six years of unmanaged contraction of our health service", the Government must acknowledge the need for emergency funding.

They said: "This must be targeted at overcrowded emergency departments, the opening of closed beds and the further enhancement of community nursing and support structures.

"Maintaining existing services, after a year in which the HSE’s own internal reports have said the health system is doing less with less, is simply not good enough."

Mr Doran said the service plan is more focused and realistic, but only provides for an "overstretched, overworked and under resourced health service to continue managing crises every day".

He said: Faced with this reality the health service requires additional resources. This will ensure patients, presenting for care, can be assured that they will be treated with dignity and be cared for by a frontline professional who has the resources necessary to ensure their speedy return to health and wellbeing.

"The INMO now awaits the directorate reports, due in mid-December. We will be seeking an early meeting, with both the HSE and the Minister, to discuss our continuing serious concerns on the critical patient care issues still facing the health system and the need for further funding."

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