lMO hits out at 'warzone-like' conditions in 'unfit for purpose' health service

'Some people who should present at our emergency departments in the coming weeks will not now do so because of fears of what they have recently seen,' said the IMO. Picture: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie

The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has labelled conditions in the healthcare system as"war zone-like", noting that the situation is dangerous for staff and patients alike.

Cases of Covid, flu, and RSV have caused a serious rise in the number of people becoming ill, particularly in the Midwest region.

There have been calls from groups such as the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation for the Government to reinforce mask-wearing on public transport and in crowded settings to help to ease some of the pressure on the healthcare system.

On Tuesday, there were 534 people awaiting beds on trolleys in Irish hospitals.

However, the IMO has warned that the "chaos of January 2023" will recur sooner rather than later if nothing is done by the powers that be.

In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, IMO chairman of the consultant committee Matthew Sadlier said: "Years of underinvestment in both hospital and community healthcare infrastructure has left us a service which is dangerous for patients and for those who work within it.

"There is a very real likelihood that some patients will have died as a result of avoidable delays in the system in recent weeks. There is an even stronger likelihood that we will see further increased deaths and delayed diagnosis because some people who should present at our emergency departments in the coming weeks will not now do so because of fears of what they have recently seen."

The "war zone-like" conditions will lead to younger medics quitting the Irish health services to move abroad, the IMO said.

Dr Sadlier also noted that the current crisis is not a temporary one or down to a "perfect storm" of viruses.

Instead, he said, it was reflection of a wider problem in Irish healthcare services.

"The real issue is that successive governments have accepted as 'good enough' a health service which was — and is — demonstrably unfit for purpose; where almost a million patients are stuck on waiting lists, where vacancies exist for almost 1,000 consultant posts (which fail even to attract applicants), where chaotic scenes in emergency departments and hundreds of patients on trolleys are now routine and where staff face unprecedented levels of burnout, stress, and low morale as they once again listen to politicians making excuses for our woefully inadequate health services."

'Herculean' efforts

The IMO said it was "hardly surprising" that the system collapses as soon as challenges arise, hailing the "Herculean" efforts of doctors and other healthcare professionals to prevent it from failing completely.

Dr Sadlier added: "The health service is already demanding too much from frontline staff; it has a long history of forcing NCHDs to work illegal and unsafe hours, often 80 hours or more a week; it can’t fill almost 1,000 consultant posts because it refuses to compete in the worldwide market for such sought-after talent and it will soon be facing the reality of a scarcity of GPs because it has treated GPs as workhorses on which endlessly increasing demands can be foisted rather than valuable resources that need support and investment.

"The sad reality is that, without radical action, the only certainty is that the chaos of January 2023 will recur and perhaps sooner than anyone would expect."