Recruitment begins for UHW cardiac care
Thousands turned out to march in Waterford in 2019 for 24/7 Cardiac Care. Photo: Joe Evans
Recruitment is now underway for additional staff to facilitate an expansion of cardiac services at University Hospital Waterford (UHW) to cover weekends.
Recruitment is expected to take approximately three months with weekend cover expected to commence in October.
Speaking further, Minister of State Mary Butler, TD, said: “I was delighted to confirm this week that recruitment to facilitate the seven-day cardiac service has commenced. Once the key staff are in place, it will mean weekend cover at the UHW cath labs from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week.
“Upon official sanction for recruitment of the posts required to further expand services, Hospital Manager, Mr. Ben O’Sullivan, assured me that UHW will start recruiting immediately and he has provided an indicative timeline of three months to complete this process."
Minister Butler continued: “I am assured by UHW management that the additional staff now sanctioned, combined with the impending extension of hours, will likely cover 90-95% of all potential cases, once in place. This is obviously very reassuring to the public and is also an indication of how far we have come."
Minister Butler also addressed delays in getting the development progressed, saying: “Sometimes there is a misunderstanding and there are criticisms, but there are difficulties to be faced in progressing these issues. Unfortunately, it has taken longer than we would have liked for the pay and numbers strategy to filter down to the hospitals. This week, UHW became one of the first hospitals in the country to have recruitment sanctioned under the pay and numbers strategy.”
Meanwhile, Deputy Matt Shanahan has commented that 24/7 cardiac care is not getting any closer to commencing in the lifetime of the current government.
Deputy Shanahan said: “We were told that staff would be hired in January and the service would commence in March. Last week, it was officially confirmed that funding was approved, and we ‘might’ now see a service commencing in October. The people of Waterford and the South East are being strung along, and we have no choice but to take all of these promises with a pinch of salt and continue to seek out the facts.”
He added: “We have proved that the output is there to warrant a full 24/7 cardiac service but we’re not going to get any closer to that in the lifetime of this Government."
Deputy Shanahan also confirmed that following the lifting of the HSE freeze on recruitment, a total of 2,600 staff will be hired but only 40 of those positions will be for UHW.
