The HSE has asked healthcare workers to voluntarily work on the June Bank Holiday – but some say this doesn’t address the real issues.  

HSE CEO Bernard Gloster told healthcare staff to “seriously consider” volunteering over the Bank Holiday Weekend to avoid the “dreadful position” hospitals were in over the previous Bank Holiday.  

Irish Association for Emergency Medicine Communications Officer Dr Fergal Hickey told The Pat Kenny Show that the request was “strange” and diverts from the biggest problem in the HSE currently.  

“The single biggest problem in the health service in Ireland is acute beds,” he said. “We have 2.8 acute hospital beds per thousand of the population.” 

“The EU average is 3.97 and the OECD average is 4.3 - that is really what they need to fix more than anything else. 

Bed capacity problem

Today, 432 people were waiting for a bed in hospitals around the country.

Dr Hickey said no additional caretakers in hospitals will solve the bed capacity problem.  

“It will make care for individuals potentially better, but if they have no bed to go to once the decision is made to admit them to hospital, then the gridlock will continue,” he argued.  

“[Dr Gloster] has chosen, since he’s taken the role as CEO, to studiously ignore that fact.” 

Volunteerism

Dr Hickey agreed that hospitals should be expanded to “provide a full 24/7 service” - but the HSE should not expect the service to run on “volunteerism”.  

“It's a question of making sure that there are adequate numbers of staff and that people have appropriate time off,” he said.  

“You can’t essentially flog [staff] harder to work over an extended period of time without some form of recompense.” 

Dr Hickey said healthcare workers are already used to worker on holidays such as Christmas and the Bank Holiday – but negotiations with staff are necessary to expand the service properly.  

"Staff are burnt out"

GP Gary Stack said extra staff are needed in both general practices and hospital.  

“I don't think you can expect the staff there at present to be doing overtime. They're already burnt out from the last three years of excess demand,” he said.  

“People burnt out during the week are less likely to be in a position to provide extra hours either after hours or weekend hours.” 

He said recent suggestions such as recruiting doctors from South Africa could make a difference – but the HSE must find solutions for staff in Ireland while it waits for help from abroad.