Health ‘squabbles’ spark staff anxiety

Internal Government "squabbles" over planned health service changes are causing "huge anxiety" for staff and contributing to "a real sense of policy drift" in the system, a leading group has warned.

The Irish Medical Organisation made the claim after a week dominated by a public spat between Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Health Minister Leo Varadkar over what health cuts can and cannot be achieved.

While government officials have since moved to defuse the pre-budget stand-off, in recent days Mr Kenny has rebuked Mr Varadkar for his habit of “shirking” policies, insisting thata minister cannot just say “what you cannot do”.

Reacting to the situation, IMO president Trevor Duffy said the public spat is causing anxiety among staff and patients who will be directly affected by any failure by government officials to work together to improve the system.

Hitting out at suggestions that the health service is set to lose 300 hospital beds; has 2,400 fewer “hi-tech operations”; and will suffer €230m in cuts next year, he said the scale of the job at hand must focus minds.

“The political squabbles which now surround the health services are causing huge anxiety and worry amongst patients and frontline staff,” Prof Duffy warned.

“There is a real sense of policy drift and concern that sufficient resources will not be made available to deal with demand levels and to ensure health professionals are treating patients in a safe way.

“Patient safety is a real issue and if further cuts are imposed in the coming months, they will be the tipping point in terms of further deterioration of services for patients. We are already seeing longer waiting lists, inadequate community support and a GP service that is unable to cope.”

Since replacing James Reilly as health minister, Mr Varadkar has delayed or cancelled a number of health policies, including delays to universal health insurance, deconstructing the HSE, and changes to plans for free GP care.