Calls for HSE to convene emergency taskforce and engage with healthcare staff on winter plan

Irish Patients Association spokesman, Stephen McMahon s calling for extra planning for the coming winter within the health system.File Photo: Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland.

Calls have been made for the HSE to convene a meeting of the emergency department taskforce for hospitals, which has not met since January, and engage with healthcare staff on a winter plan.

The Irish Patients Association (IPA), which sits on the taskforce for hospital emergency departments, said planning was vital to avoid an even more challenging winter this year as the health service grapples with Covid-19, growing waiting lists, and capacity issues, while the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) said the HSE must engage with staffing unions on a winter plan.