Carthy says Sinn Féin proposals will deliver more hospital beds, train more healthcare workers and hold the HSE to account
Cavan Monaghan Sinn Féin TD, Matt Carthy, has called on government to endorse and implement his party’s proposals to end the constant crisis in our hospitals.
Deputy Carthy was speaking ahead of Sinn Féin’s Dáil motion on the issue this week. He said that the ongoing crises in our health services were the natural outworking of the policy agendas pursued by successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments. He said that County Monaghan was at the coalface of these government failures as the removal of services from the local hospital and the shortage of supports for GP services had added to the overcrowding witnessed at Emergency Departments in Cavan and Drogheda.
Teachta Cullinane said:
“This winter must be a watershed moment in ending the constant crises in our hospitals. Overcrowding is inhumane, unsafe, and undignified. We need radical action.
“The cause of the relenting crises in our health services is, of course, the policy agendas pursued by successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments. In Monaghan, Sinn Féin and other campaigners warned that the removal of services from our local hospital would lead to increased pressure on Drogheda and Cavan Emergency Departments. We warned government to pay head to the pressure on GP services. They failed to listen.
“Two decades of negligence have come home to roost. We have fewer acute inpatient beds in hospitals than 25 years ago and we need at least 800 more acute and transitional care beds in place before next winter.
“The solutions are no secret and there are no more lessons to be learned. Sinn Féin has a plan to turn it around.
“The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) reported just five days where there were fewer than 350 patients on trolleys in 2022. They recorded no day with under 300.
“Instead of ending the scandal of patients on trolleys, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil made it worse. The health service is only held together by the goodwill and hard labour of healthcare workers battling crises day in, day out.
“Overcrowding was declared a “national emergency” in 2006 but it has been allowed to become the new normal. But it is not normal, it is a national disgrace.
“In the short-term, government must make greater use of all public and private health care infrastructure to alleviate pressure on the public system.
“Sinn Féin has a multi-annual plan to increase the number of public beds, including more acute inpatient and sub-acute hospital beds and community step-down beds to speed up admissions and discharges to meet rising demand and demographic change, and to expedite the development of elective centres.
“Our motion in the Dáil this week sets out how we can emerge from the continual crisis mode that has been the hallmark of this government. It will be up to Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Green Party TDs to show whether they are now willing to listen to the solutions and act accordingly”.
ENDS
