HSE Winter Plan Falls Well Below The Mark
Aontú Leader & Meath West TD Peadar Tóibín has criticised the government’s HSE Winter Plan as accounting for the actual state of the health service – leaving tens of thousands wondering whether they will receive treatment.
Tóibín: “The Winter Plan proposed by the government fails to ensure that everyone who needs a bed will get one, fails to ensure there are staff in place to man those beds, fails to address the hundreds of thousands long backlog waiting for cancer screening services, and does not even mention nursing homes once. Furthermore, it is critical that much of the health service does not close down again as it did during the lockdown. There has been no research by the HSE so far as to the cost in morbidity and mortality in the general population to these closures. Lives in danger from cancer, heart diseases, stroke and threats to mental health needs – we know nothing about the Covid cost to our healthcare sector.”
“According to the Ministers Covid has knocked between 20% and 50% of the public health capacity out already. This will not be replaced by the Winter plan. Hundreds of Thousands of patients have had delayed diagnosis, delayed treatment or delated cancer screening already this year. The objective of this plan when it comes to cancer screening is only to achieve 95% of last years capacity never mind dealing with the 200,000 plus back log. There is a mismatch between the numbers of beds promised and the projected available staff. We need a radically changed approach to recruitment. So bad this is that the INMO meeting with the HSE since March and are now opening a dispute with the work place relations commission.”
“Also, we are extremely frustrated that the there is no mention of nursing homes at all in the plan given it - it was ground zero of the first wave. Those most vulnerable were exposed. Will we see the aggressive targeting of nursing home staff for redeployment else where in the HSE.”
