Staff freeze won’t hit patient care, says Harney

HEALTH Minister Mary Harney has dismissed any suggestion that the staff freeze imposed by the Health Service Executive (HSE) this month could be impacting on patient care.

Ms Harney was speaking at the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) Conference in Killarney where nurses were expressing widespread anger about “cutbacks”.

“There are 120,000 people working in the public health system and I cannot see how 200-300 less people can have the dire consequences which are being predicted in some places but I would say to management that it is imperative that patient care is not affected,” Ms Harney said.