Pringle supports health workers protest, calls for focus on recruitment at LUH
- Updated: 20th November 2024
Independent TD for Donegal, Thomas Pringle, renewed his call for a focus on recruitment and retention at Letterkenny University Hospital and the wider health services, as he expressed his solidarity with unions protesting Wednesday at LUH.
Deputy Pringle said: “When health workers themselves are crying out for positions to be filled at Letterkenny University Hospital, we must listen.
“They are telling us the need is there. The trade unions, including Fórsa, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation and Siptu, are telling us the need is there.
“There’s frustration out there coming from staff, patients and the general public over ongoing staffing shortages across our health services and the pressures this is putting on health workers and on healthcare.
“Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael politicians will focus on the amount of money that has been spent on health. This is a deflection from the real issues.
“The real issue is that the staff at LUH and the wider health services continue to be overstretched and under-resourced, and this is affecting their ability to provide the care people deserve.
“I spoke on the doors with the family of a cancer care nurse who returned home to Donegal in the expectation of finding work but is now thinking of emigrating again because she can’t find a job. I could feel their frustration – the need for these skills is there.
“We have patients on waiting lists, patients spending hours on a trolley, patients waiting for a hospital bed to become available. The need for more staff is there.
“I have been raising the fact that Letterkenny University Hospital needs a far greater focus on recruitment for years. It doesn’t matter how much money is being spent if issues of staffing, of recruitment and retention are not properly addressed.
“The HSE’s Pay and Numbers Strategy is not meeting the needs of the health services, or the needs of healthcare staff and the people they care for and serve. It’s not meeting the need in Donegal and it’s not meeting the need around the country.
“There must be a real focus on recruitment and direct employment at LUH and the wider health service. Recruitment restrictions are putting the health services under an unacceptable strain and forcing staff to work under severe, constant pressure. This can’t be allowed to continue,” he said.
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