Nurses urge minister to halt cuts or wreak havoc

Nurses have urged Health Minister James Reilly not to force through yet more budget cutbacks, warning the policy “is threatening patient safety and creating unacceptable delays in cancer treatment”.

Speaking after the chief executives of four major hospitals wrote to the HSE making a similar plea, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) said further cuts will cause havoc to an already damaged system.

The union said that since the recession began the health budget has been cut by €3.3bn, staff numbers have fallen by 10,000 and more than 2,000 beds shut.

And noting that further cuts of at least €666m will be imposed next year, INMO general secretary Liam Doran warned the service cannot take any more cuts.

“The letter from the chief executives [of the Mater, St James’s, Tallaght and Crumlin] confirms what this organisation has been saying for a number of years.

“Further cuts to the health service are unsustainable. Patient care will be compromised and safe practice will be impossible.

“It is time for this Government to listen to those working on the frontline, invest in our health services and provide safe care for the most vulnerable people in our society,” he said.

The nurses comments came after managers at the Mater, St James’s, Tallaght and Crumlin warned HSE director general, Tony O’Brien, they cannot allow more cuts to services.

The managers said that, since 2008, the facilities have lost €206m in essential funding.

They wrote: “There is clear evidence that funding reductions, coupled with accelerating demand, have begun to clearly threaten the quality and safety of patient services. The consequences of these quality and safety problems place an even greater long-run financial burden on the hospital system. This short-sighted and random application of budgetary reductions is clearly likely to seriously damage the foundation of the system.”

Speaking on RTE’s Morning Ireland yesterday, consultant oncologist at Crumlin, Prof Owen Smith, said among the people already being affected by repeated cuts are children with cancer. He said chemotherapy treatment is being delayed by a number of days.

Health Minister James Reilly failed to respond publicly to the specific issues raised, with a spokesperson saying the letter was sent to the HSE and not his office.

Meanwhile, economic and social policy expert Tom O’Connor has warned that ongoing cutbacks are preventing reforms from taking place and are putting patients at real risk.

In an analysis of the issue published in today’s Irish Examiner, Mr O’Connor said: “Austerity cannot be used as an excuse to deny the implementation of sweeping changes in the health and social care system for which clear blueprints exist.”