DONEGAL deputies Pearse Doherty and Pádraig MacLochlainn will support a party motion this evening that calls for an immediate end to recruitment freezes this winter.
They want Health Minister Carroll MacNeill to “prioritise” safe hospital staffing levels.
Their Sinn Féin party’s Dáil motion calls for permanent contract commitments to nursing and midwifery graduates to be honoured, the enactment of safe staffing legislation, and extra resourcing for hospital, ambulance, and community capacity to meet people’s health service needs this winter.
Pearse Doherty said: “Frontline workers and hospital managers are warning that staffing shortages will present serious and life-threatening risks to patients as our hospitals face into another arduous winter.
“Staff are carrying unsustainable workloads and working in dangerously overcrowded hospitals.”
Deputy MacLochlainn said: “Strategic workforce planning is needed to reduce excessive, expensive reliance on overtime and agency staffing and to help retain the experienced workers our health services depend on.”
He added: “Investment for GPs, home support, diagnostics, and community services is also needed to support timely care outside hospital, provide alternatives, and support safe discharges.
“The Government must publish properly designed regional winter plans with clear staffing and capacity targets, deadlines, funding, and responsibility for delivery.”
The motion is being brought forward by the party’s health spokesperson David Cullinane.