The persistently high numbers of patients on trolleys in South Tipperary General Hospital has been described this week as ‘a crisis that is showing no signs of abating’. Independent TD Mattie McGrath was speaking as the Irish Nurses and Midwife Organisation’s (INMO) Trolley and Ward Watch indicated that the Hospital had the highest number of patients on trolleys in the Country equivalent only to Cork University Hospital.

McGrath stressed that is is ‘simply intolerable’ and says it is placing enormous levels of stress not only on patients and their families but also on the frontline staff ‘who are simply worn out trying to provide decent care in such circumstances’.

“How the Minister for Health and this completely out of touch government can even consider taking hundreds of millions more from the capital budget of the HSE while these crisis exist shows a staggering level of calculated cruelty to the ordinary patient.”

“Is it any wonder that not only South Tipperary General but that hospitals all over the country are in crisis when this morning we hear the news that HSE Management have weaselled their way out of an agreement reached with nursing staff under the Haddington Road Agreement? The nurses were give an assurance that they could choose to retain their existing hours, but with a pay cut, instead of working increased hours. Now Mr O’Brien the head of the HSE has said this is no longer viable?

“This is a clear sign that HSE Management are clueless about the conditions and pressures that frontline staff are experiencing and the crisis in trolley numbers is a blatant example of that. There is a complete lack of respect here for staff and patients and I am calling on all concerned parties to immediately come together so we can plot a way out of this mess and find a way to allow frontline staff to deliver the high quality service that is obviously needed,” concluded Deputy McGrath.