Reacting to latest figures provided by the INMO that over 9,000 people were on trolleys in October, Labour Health spokesperson, Alan Kelly has called on the HSE and the Minister for Health to publish what their plans are to reduce this number through out the winter period.
Deputy Kelly said:
“Winter is coming which means absolute chaos in our hospitals. The figures provided by the INMO today show that shockingly over 9,000 people have been on trolleys in October. This figure is staggering and shows how the Government’s health policy is continuing to fail our sick and vulnerable citizens.
“I have been calling on Minister Harris to publish the HSE Winter Initiative for months now and we still haven’t seen plans for how the Government plan to boost bed capacity during the difficult winter months.
“Not only do sick patients deserve better, but hardworking frontline staff cannot endure another winter of discontent in our hospitals.
“The only way to deal with the crisis in our hospitals aside from increasing bed capacity is ensuring that healthcare professionals are paid the wages they deserve for their time. We all know the plight of new entrant and graduate nurses in our hospitals, if the Government were truly serious about ending the crisis in our health service, they would come up with practical proposals to recruit more young nurses into our hospitals that are at capacity.”
