Woman skipped treatment after fall by lying on floor for two days, health committee told

(Left to right) INMO union officials Niall Dunne Director of Public Health Nursing; INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha and INMO President Caroline Gourley outside Wednesday's  Joint Oireachtas Health Committee on HSE staff levels at Leinster House. Photo: Gareth Chaney

A woman lay on the ground for two days after a fall, fearful that if she went for treatment there would be no one to mind her husband who has dementia and her adult child who has special needs.

That case and hundreds others of of cancer patients missing out on radiation therapy have been cited by health unions as examples of the fall-out from staff shortages.