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05/08/2011
Health Services Facing Meltdown
The health service is facing a possible meltdown SIPTU acting Health Division organiser Paul Bell has warned.
In response to media reports today that recruitment plans to fill 1,400 front line posts will be put on hold and not exempted from the general moratorium on staff appointments Paul Bell said: “We have a genuine fear that public health services are facing a meltdown”.
SIPTU represents 47,000 health service workers, including many who are in front line posts such as ambulance drivers, nurses and radiographers.
Paul Bell said: “This policy of media leaks ahead of meetings is part of a regular conditioning process to which health service workers and their unions have been subjected. We will be bracing ourselves for more cuts based on a policy that prioritises the need to balance the books ahead of the needs of the sick, the poor and the elderly.”
The Health Division organiser added: “This is despite growing evidence that the displacement of staff such as nurses and health care assistants by agency personnel is actually increasing the HSE bill.
“We have a genuine fear that public health services are facing a meltdown. I believe that the actual impact on services will be even worse than indicated in the figures leaked to the media. Cuts in these services will tip us into a situation where the increasing incidents of patients’ needs not being met will cease to be the exception and become the norm.”
(BMcN/GK)
In response to media reports today that recruitment plans to fill 1,400 front line posts will be put on hold and not exempted from the general moratorium on staff appointments Paul Bell said: “We have a genuine fear that public health services are facing a meltdown”.
SIPTU represents 47,000 health service workers, including many who are in front line posts such as ambulance drivers, nurses and radiographers.
Paul Bell said: “This policy of media leaks ahead of meetings is part of a regular conditioning process to which health service workers and their unions have been subjected. We will be bracing ourselves for more cuts based on a policy that prioritises the need to balance the books ahead of the needs of the sick, the poor and the elderly.”
The Health Division organiser added: “This is despite growing evidence that the displacement of staff such as nurses and health care assistants by agency personnel is actually increasing the HSE bill.
“We have a genuine fear that public health services are facing a meltdown. I believe that the actual impact on services will be even worse than indicated in the figures leaked to the media. Cuts in these services will tip us into a situation where the increasing incidents of patients’ needs not being met will cease to be the exception and become the norm.”
(BMcN/GK)
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