Varadkar: ‘Better paid nurses in emergency departments aren’t going to solve overcrowding’
The Health Minister Leo Varadkar has said better paid emergency department nurses will not solve overcrowding.
Talks between nurses and the HSE on the issue collapsed last night, meaning a strike is almost certain to go ahead next week.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has called for an incentivised recruitment package to attract staff from private hospitals and abroad to fill the 144 ED nurse vacancies.
Varadkar believes better paid nurses will not ease the crisis in Irish hospitals.
“Emergency departments do go off call quite regularly, it’s not something that only happens during a strike period,” said Varadkar.
“So, ambulances will be diverted to other hospitals.
“I think it’s important to say that more nurses and better paid nurses in emergency departments aren’t going to solve overcrowding. There is no patient this morning on a trolley who’s waiting to see an emergency department nurse.
“Patients are on trolleys because they are waiting for a bed up the wards or they are waiting to be discharged home.”
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