Cllr McGettigan slams government over 6,000 hospital cancellations

SINN Féin councillor Donna McGettigan has said that Clare’s government TDs cannot stand idly by while record waiting lists, record waiting times and record cancellations spiral out of control.

Cllr McGettigan was speaking as figures showed that there were 5997 cancellations across the UL hospital group, in the first four months of the year.

Donna called on the government TDs to support solutions to this crisis being brought forward by Sinn Féin health spokesperson David Cullinane TD this week. The Shan- non based county councillor said, “Government TDs in Clare cannot continue to stand idly by while record waiting lists, record waiting times and record cancellations spiral out of control.”

“Figures released to Sinn Féin health spokesperson David Cullinane show that almost 6,000 patients had their much needed appointments cancelled until who knows when, in just four months, that is shocking. That includes 3464 in UHL and a further 308 in Ennis.

Yet UHL has some of the longest A&E wait times in the state.”

“Record hospital cancellations show that the government’s answer to health service chaos is shifting the burden from one area to another without solving any of the problems.”

“This is not a solution to the deepening crisis in our health service, which is at breaking point.

“The trolley scandal which Fine Gael pledged to end is now worse than ever. It has become a yearround threat to patient safety.

“The government has no plan to fix the health service. They are only making it worse. The longer Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are in power, the more this scandalous situation will continue to spiral out of control.”

“We need a serious multi-annual capacity plan, backed up by strategic workforce planning, to tackle the trolley crisis.”

“The fact is we also need 1,000 more hospital beds than we have now, yet the government has no plan to deliver them.”

“The Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, has said he will produce a new plan for 1,500 beds over the next few years. This doesn’t come close to cutting the mustard - we need a plan for 2,500 beds accord- ing to ESRI estimates.”

“The government has no plan to train the health workers we need to safely staff the health service.”

“The health service can be fixed but it needs a government and minister with the political will to do so. I call on all TDs to back our solutions to tackle this crisis.”

“A Sinn Féin government would drive reform, increase bed capacity, hold the health service accountable, and train and retain the healthcare workers we need to safely staff the health service.”