TD in heated clash with Health Minister over Mayo hospital staffing levels

A Mayo TD has clashed with Health Minister Stephen Donnelly over staffing levels at Mayo University Hospital.

During a Dáil debate on the HSE freeze on frontline staff recruitment, the minister stated: "We are hiring at record levels and we have exceeded the already ambitious targets for this year."

Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh said she could not believe the response the minister gave.

She hit out: "I really thought that he was going to come in here, listen to what was being said and commit to bring forward a Revised Estimate for health because he will have seen by now the disastrous decisions that were made in the budget, but he did not.

"Instead, he has come to paint a picture that is not the reality on the ground.

"The reason I know that is as late as yesterday our party health spokesperson, Deputy Cullinane, and I visited Mayo University Hospital to listen to the nurses and people working in the hospital, and to listen to management as well.

"I am really glad that the minister talks to people all over the world but he needs to get down there and talk to people about the reality they face.

"That hospital alone is operating at 125% capacity. Does that not alarm the minister?

"The capacity is at 125% with exhausted staff who have not even had time to recover since Covid-19 and all that was expected of them then and that is right across the system.

"It affects the people working in labs, the people working on the front line, in ED and everywhere else.

"They have not had time to recover, and we are asking them to continue on working in an environment where the capacity is at 125%.

"The minister does not think it is a problem that 880,000 patients are waiting for treatment.

"Thousands of them are waiting in County Mayo alone for treatment. I am shocked at the reply the minister has given."

Minister Donnelly said he agreed there is absolutely no question but that many of the jobs in our healthcare service are very intense.

"They are tough, difficult jobs - working in emergency departments, intensive care wards and in complex surgery, to name but a few.

"There is also no question but that we must all strive every day to do better and better for patients and better and better for our fantastic healthcare professionals.

"That is why we set up the NCHD task force; that is why we hired a chief health and social care professional; that is why we are rolling out safe staffing through next year; that is why we are continuing to invest in advance practice; that is why we are investing in new primary care centres, bed blocks and hospitals; that is why we have been hiring at record rates for the past three years; and that is why we are expanding college places in healthcare.

"It is true that he vast majority of healthcare professionals I speak with talk with passion about their work and their patients.

"They talk with pride about their hospitals or community organisations. It is also true that the vast majority of healthcare professionals who qualify in Ireland choose to stay and work in Ireland.

"Some do go abroad, as is normal, natural and healthy. It is also true that the majority of those who qualify here and choose to go abroad, in time choose to come back home and to work here."