Irish Examiner view: Frontline healthcare staff deserve better

Even amid the misery of hospital overcrowding, we acknowledge the standard of care offered by staff in Irish hospitals

While there is a resourcing issue in Irish hospitals, Robert Watt and other senior officials ought to offer more support for the doctors, nurses, and other healthcare staff we depend on. iStock 

One of our most durable clichés may need to be replaced for the times we live in.

“Eaten bread is soon forgotten” has now been officially superseded by “clapping for healthcare workers is soon forgotten”, judging by the comments made at an Oireachtas health committee meeting this week.

The secretary general of the Department of Health, Robert Watt, said that the number of people on waiting lists is “about 500,000-plus”, adding: “Those numbers are still unacceptably high.”

We simply must do better with the resources at our disposal to meet that challenge. 

It is striking that Mr Watt cannot be more specific than “500,000-plus” when providing figures to an Oireachtas committee. However, many observers were quick to focus on his other comments, in particular taking offence over his insistence that staff “must do better” regarding resources. 

Anyone who has been in an Irish hospital in recent years will have seen first-hand the lack of resources. It is particularly acute when it comes to the most precious commodity in a clinical environment: Experienced frontline staff.

We have heard horror stories, such as the testimony at the recent inquest into the death of Aoife Johnston in University Hospital Limerick, where one doctor was trying to manage 191 patients on her own in the emergency department.

As is the way in any profession, there will be those who underperform or throw in the towel, but what is striking is that — in the midst of our national debate on quality of care provided in hospitals — we all know of someone who eulogises the care they, or someone they know, received at a recent hospital visit.

Mr Watt should support his frontline staff and find ways to improve our system and, thus, their ability to care for the unwell. The heroes of the pandemic deserve no less.

Hard lessons for RTÉ 

The Government’s latest proposals for RTÉ can be seen in a number of ways, but one conclusion is that those proposals are truly putting the ‘State’ in State broadcaster.

Although RTÉ will welcome the first tranche of funding which was pledged as part of the bailout of the station — some €20m — the reports on the State broadcaster published this week have serious consequences for its operations going forward.

The fact that three separate reports have been published on RTÉ’s performance is telling enough, and there is no shortage of recommendations from those reports — there are 116 in total, and Media Minister Catherine Martin has said all should be implemented.

Ms Martin has also said that she intends to bring forward legislative proposals to put RTÉ under the control of the Comptroller and Auditor General, a move that would give the Oireachtas public accounts committee greater powers of scrutiny when it comes to RTÉ’s accounts and general financial performance.

That proposal comes with an obvious caveat — with the Government expected to go to the country in the near future, the minister may simply run out of time to get that legislation through the Oireachtas — but it is difficult to imagine that the next administration, no matter what political parties are involved, will pass up the chance to introduce similar measures.

Such measures are absolutely necessary if the findings in some of this week’s reports are accurate.

For instance, the Mazars report which was published on Tuesday found that RTÉ had simply lost the financial records relating to three years’ transactions in its notorious barter account. It is difficult to believe that such sensitive records could simply be mislaid, but Mazars added that they had been kept in hard copy form and had been lost during an office move.

RTÉ has some hard lessons ahead of it, but entering the 21st century in terms of record-keeping technology should surely be achieved quite easily.

Dublin taskforce duties

The rioting in Dublin last November has been described as the worst in the modern history of the capital, an event marked by widespread looting in the city centre.

The appalling scenes contributed to a growing sense that Dublin City centre is not a welcoming space, to put it mildly.

It is no surprise, then, to learn that Taoiseach Simon Harris is expected to announce details of the Government’s new Dublin taskforce, which will be tasked with rejuvenating the city centre: An Post chief executive David McRedmond is to head up the project.

The aim of the taskforce is clear. It is to bring forward concrete recommendations to improve the public realm, safety, and experience in the city, and make it a “more thriving, attractive, and safe cityscape” as well as improving its desirability as a location to live, work, do business in, and to visit.

This is laudable, particularly the emphasis on making Dublin a better place to work and live in, rather than just focusing on improving its reputation as a tourist destination.

The residents deserve a safe, attractive environment that is a functioning city for all and not just a holiday destination.

All of which begs an obvious question: Can the urgency being shown about the problems of Dublin’s urban environment be replicated around the country? Other Irish cities would certainly benefit from a similar approach.