Stressed Portlaoise frontline hospital staff in the 'firing line' says Laois General Election candidates

A Laois General Election candidate has hit out at the 'unbearable' stress on nurses and other hospital staff caused by the HSE's recruitment curtailment policy which was subject to a big protest at Portlaoise hospital as the General Election looms.

Independent candidate Cllr Aisling Moran joined frontline hospital staff in Portlaoise on Wednesday, November 27 as they protested shortage of personnel and the risks that causes.

The lunchtime demonstration was organised by SIPTU and the INMO to highlight the pressure on hospital workers caused by the HSE Pay and Numbers strategy which they say is a continuation of the controversial staff recruitment embargo.

Cllr Moran said in a statement that she has repeatedly raised concerns for frontline staff throughout her campaign and even long before hand at numerous Laois County Council meetings.

“The stress and strain they are under is unbearable and unsafe both for staff and patients. I have time and time again spoken of how they are not in the frontline but rather the firing line, and the victims of poor management and failed government policies.

“There wasn’t a penny, not a mention in the budget of nurses, no plan to recruit and retain them as they emigrate in their droves. The same can be seen in teaching and in the guards, so many other jobs where this Government repeatedly fail to take action to attract staff who can’t afford a home or even pay rent. Meanwhile, in the workplace they are run off their feet and unable to cope safely with what’s demanded of them,” Moran maintained.

Showing solidarity at today’s protest at Portlaoise Hospital was Cllr Moran's wife, Fiona, herself a former nurse.

“I quit, I had to get out, I was a nurse, but we were underpaid, understaffed and undervalued, I just got sick of it and left,” she explained as she spoke to the SIPTU and INMO members on the informal picket. MORE BELOW PICTURE.

For her part Cllr Moran asserts there is a different way, a better way to treat nurses and healthcare workers, rather than insulting them with pious platitudes, broken agreements, and dangerously low staffing levels.

“It’s infuriating to listen to the Taoiseach in the leaders’ debate last night talking about how he understands the problem; how he’s glad that question was asked; how he understands peoples’ anger, as if it has nothing whatsoever to do with him. Simon Harris has been in Government since 2011, 14 years he’s had to solve these issues.

"Along with the Tánaiste, Micheál Martin they are both former Ministers for Health and they have the health service in a disastrous and dangerous state, even though the country is supposed to be awash with money. Now they are offering more sympathy when what’s required is more staff and better pay and conditions.

“He’s talking about the ‘Rainy Day Fund’, well the rainy day is here in the health service, in housing, in childcare, in disability services, in special needs supports, and all he has to offer is tea and biscuits and ‘I feel your pain’. The public are sick of it, and he’ll get his answer on Friday,” asserted Cllr Moran.