Call made in Waterford for healthcare workforce planning changes

Major changes are needed in health workforce planning and service reform to meet the demand of a growing, aging population in Ireland.

That's the view of Sinn Féin TD for Waterford, Deputy David Cullinane, who is also his party's spokesperson on health.

Deputy Cullinane has called for a proactive, multi-year workforce plan to safely staff the health service and tackle waiting lists. 

He also said such measures must be based on good public jobs and not on outsourcing.

Deputy Cullinane made his comments in response to the publication of an ESRI report today (Tuesday, May 19), which highlighted the need for thousands more community-based health and care workers to meet the demands of a growing and aging population.

Deputy Cullinane also noted that there were almost 300,000 people on primary and community care waiting lists.

"Today’s ESRI report is a stark reminder that the health service cannot keep drifting from one staffing crisis to the next," he said.

“There are almost 300,000 people already on waiting lists for primary and community care services," he added.

"That's older people waiting on audiology or podiatry, stroke and accident survivors waiting on physiotherapy, children and young people waiting for therapies and psychology appointments."

He also highlighted that the lists, overall, are up 25 per cent in three years.

"The major growth is in runaway physiotherapy and psychology waitings lists, but waiting times are rising for most other services too," he said.

He went on to say: "We have a growing and ageing population. That means more need for services like physiotherapy, public health and community nursing, dietetics, audiology, and eye and dental care."

Deputy Cullinane also said home care, step-down care, and long-term residential care must also be part of the plan.

“The Government’s approach has been too short-term, too whimsical, and too dependent on outsourcing," he said.

He commented that recruitment embargoes, delayed funding, poor workforce planning, and over-reliance on agency staff had made a bad situation worse. 

"The Government seems to expect highly qualified health and care workers to materialise from nowhere into frontline posts, and there is no plan for Irish emigrant health workers to return home and directly into jobs," he said.

“We need a proactive, multi-year workforce plan that works hand-in-hand with service reform," he added, commenting that training, recruiting, retaining and measures to properly support existing staff are required.

“It means good public jobs, decent terms and conditions, safe staffing levels, career pathways, and a serious plan to reduce agency reliance," he said.

Deputy Cullinane said the issue was also about reform, adding: "Sláintecare cannot be delivered without the workforce to deliver it. Shifting care into the community is the right theory, but it will fail if community services are left understaffed and under-resourced."

“The Government should publish and fund a safe workforce plan, including expanded training places, measures to boost retention, investment in community teams, and clear targets to reduce waiting lists," he said.

"It must also include service modernisation, both in ways of work and where and how care is delivered," he added.

“The health service needs planning, but all it is getting is soundbites. The Minister must act on this report and bring forward a serious workforce plan without delay.”