Nurses call for 10% health funding hike

NURSES want the Government to increase bed numbers by 1,000 and set aside 10% of GDP for spending on health in the next 10 years.

In its pre-Budget submission, the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) also called for a Government commitment to end bed closures and urged Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy to eliminate the chronic bottlenecks in the health system.

Government spending on health has doubled in the past few years to approximately 9.2 billion this year. The INO wants this increased to 10% of GDP, approximately 14bn, another significant hike.

The organisation also wants the Government to introduce a range of initiatives to address the chronic, and growing, shortage of nurses and midwives throughout the hospital service, including allowing the spouses of non-nationals working in hospitals the service to be permitted to work here.

The INO also wants workers on the minimum wage to be removed from the tax net and says the tax base must be widened to ensure all members of society pay their fair share.

Speaking at the publication of its submission, Liam Doran, INO general secretary, said the Government has an opportunity to address deficiencies in the system.

“The health service continues to have severe shortcomings which are obvious to everyone. In this Budget, the Government must acknowledge and address these problems by allocating all necessary resources. In addition, the Government must demonstrate its commitment to the existence of world class public services by planning and increasing investment in health, education, infrastructure and other social services over the next ten years,” Mr Doran said.

“The INO believes it is a question of making the right choices and choosing the real priorities and, notwithstanding changed economic circumstances, this country can still afford to deliver the goals and objectives detailed in our submission in the interests of the PAYE worker, our children, senior citizens and those relying upon social welfare payments.”

The INO submission calls on the Government to eliminate the “blatant inequalities” within the health service by introducing a single system of access. This, the INO claims, would ensure that an individual’s health needs solely determine access to treatment.

The INO call for further investment in the health services comes at the end of a week which saw another crisis in Dublin’s main A&E units, with 120 patients on trolleys last Monday.