“This unsustainable situation will only deteriorate" - Mayo TD calls for action on staffing and overcrowding at MUH
TD Rose Conway-Walsh says 85 vacancies, including 50 nursing posts, must be addressed as Sinn Féin brings Dáil motion on hospital pressures and winter preparedness
Sinn Féin TD Rose Conway-Walsh has called for urgent action to address overcrowding, staffing shortages and ambulance cover in Mayo, as her party prepares to bring a Dáil motion on pressures facing hospitals nationwide.
Deputy Conway-Walsh said staff at Mayo University Hospital (MUH) were working under relentless pressure, with serious overcrowding, unsafe staffing levels and delays for patients attending the Emergency Department.
She warned that the situation could deteriorate further as winter progresses unless immediate measures are taken.
The Sinn Féin motion will call on the Government to address safe staffing, recruitment restrictions, hospital capacity, ambulance services and the provision of properly funded winter plans.
Deputy Conway-Walsh said MUH currently has 85 vacancies, including 50 nursing posts, and called for outstanding nursing appointments to be approved and all essential vacancies filled.
“How can any hospital operate effectively when there are 85 vacancies, including 50 nursing posts? That is what MUH is facing,” she said.
She also called for an end to recruitment freezes and the full implementation and funding of the Safe Staffing Framework.
The Mayo TD criticised delays in approving nursing appointments, saying graduate nurses who had accepted positions were being left waiting for national approval, with some having to claim social welfare while hospitals faced significant staffing shortages.
“Appallingly, the Government is actively standing in the way of solutions,” she said. “Graduate nurses who have accepted jobs are being left in limbo while their positions are awaiting national approval. Some are left with no option but to sign on for social welfare. This is an extraordinary situation when our hospitals are crying out for nurses.
Deputy Conway-Walsh said the pressures extended beyond the hospital, with concerns also being raised about ambulance response times across Mayo.
She said she had been contacted by older people who had waited more than six hours for an ambulance, describing such delays as unacceptable.
“That is wholly unacceptable, but it is not the fault of existing crews, who are stretched to breaking point and desperately need additional resources,” the Sinn Féin TD said.
Deputy Conway-Walsh added she was seeking confirmation from the Minister for Health that additional paramedic posts, two new hospital ambulance liaison supervisors and a new air ambulance for the West and Northwest, all promised earlier this year, were now operational in Mayo.
She said the Dáil motion would seek commitments from the Government to ensure hospitals had the staff and capacity needed to meet patient demand and that ambulance services were adequately resourced.
“Patients and staff can no longer wait for this Government to do nothing,” Deputy Conway-Wlash said.