A Tipperary TD has criticised hospital management and other Independent TDs for allowing the trolley crisis to continue.
Deputy Mattie McGrath says that Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has continually failed to address this issue by refusing to take any meaningful corrective actions.
He is disappointed the current cabinet contains three former ministers for Health who ‘allowed public hospital capacity to be hollowed out’ but have all been repeatedly rewarded, despite their failings.
Speaking to Tipp FM Deputy McGrath said this does come down to poor management in our region’s hospitals.
“You have bed mangers, ward mangers, linen managers, floor mangers, hygiene managers – you have managers for every word in the alphabet, they are not being manged. There is absolute bedlam. We want to have fancy names then and remove the Saints names and put University Hospital, all people want is when they’re sick to go into hospital and get proper treatment. Every year when Christmas comes the system closes down literally for two weeks on management side and they come back then to this mess every year, it is as predictable as when Santy comes that this is going to happen.”
Mattie McGrath also says ‘so called Independent TDs’ must be held responsible for the crisis in our hospitals.
He says that despite the growing population the number of hospital beds available has gone from over 17,000 in 1980 down to 11,337 last year.
He feels the Government have focused on recruiting clerical staff, and affording people fancy titles instead of increasing beds and frontline staff numbers.
Deputy McGrath was particularly critical of the only other Independent in the county who he says continues to have confidence in this Government.
“Successive governments have allowed the bed numbers to drop so they don’t want the people to get care – and they are getting away with it. We put down a motion of no confidence then and you have TDs like Michael Lowry so called independent tarnishing the name of independents, then in Waterford you have Matt Shanahan voting continuously with the Government in votes of confidence, so what do we politicians do? They are part of the government letting on to be independent, they must take the heat for this mess. Look Nenagh closed under their watch , and Ennis, and we got no services.”
