It’s unacceptable that the acute mental health unit on the grounds of Cork University Hospital is now only 61% compliant with national standards, down from 79% in 2020, according to Social Democrat’s TD Pádraig Rice.
Deputy Rice, who’s the party’s Health spokesperson, said:
“Susie Keane, a constituent of mine, has raised the alarm over the care her mother has received in this facility – since February, she has fallen four times.
“I agree with Susie that this inadequate level of care is primarily caused by understaffing of nurses, therapists and consultants – I’ve written to the HSE on her behalf to address this issue.
“The government is quick to tell us that we’ve seen huge growth in HSE staffing, but this is not reflected by MHC inspectors, who said this particular unit ‘was not kept in a good state of repair, externally or internally’ and found ‘staffing shortages across disciplines’.
“While there has been a national increase in staffing in the HSE, this statistic does not acknowledge the low baseline we started from after austerity measures – in many healthcare settings, any increase still lags far behind the required level of need to safely care for those availing of their services.
“Sadly, this is the reality faced by hospitals across the country – profound and urgent action must be taken on a national level to tackle chronic understaffing.
“The College of Psychiatrists of Ireland’s report on CAMHS released this week shows the extreme difficulty to recruit mental health staff as a result of the Pay and Numbers Strategy.
“Returning to the austerity measures it contains, such as recruitment pauses and caps, is not the answer.
“Yesterday, 6,500 psychiatric nurses began industrial action in a dispute over unsustainable staffing levels.
“This is on top of the 80,000 healthcare workers set to begin a strict work to rule on Monday.
“To date, the HSE and the government have been in denial about these shortages and have refused to constructively engage with unions. A recent admission from a department source that there are “pockets” where shortages exist is frankly a dismissive and out-of-touch assertion.
“To say that healthcare staffing isn’t in crisis ignores the lived experience of all those who are suffering on waiting lists and on trolleys in corridors, and all of those staff whose backs are broken attempting to shoulder unmanageable workloads resulting from government mismanagement.
“The Minister must finally accept that there are major staff shortages across our health service and commit to proper workforce planning, based on safe staffing levels, and honour commitments to previously funded posts.
“An urgent intervention is required to avert further industrial action and restore relations.”
March 27th, 2025