Paul Murphy: Demands 5,000 Beds and End to Private Profits
Paul Murphy addressed the annual trolley and health crisis, arguing it is a policy-made disaster caused by deliberate undercapacity and a two-tier, for-profit health system. He called for urgent public investment, absorption of private hospitals into the public system, and an all-Ireland national health service.
Policy-made crisis
Paul Murphy said the trolley crisis is not a natural feature of winter but a policy-made disaster. He blamed a commitment to a two-tier, fragmented health service and chronic lack of capacity and staffing across emergency departments, acute and elective services, ICU, public health teams, primary care, GP services, mental health and disability services, step-down care, nursing homes and home care.
Bed shortages and capacity data
He highlighted historical bed figures to explain the core problem - in the early 1980s there were 17,500 hospital beds, today there are just over 11,000, a level similar to 2009 despite a significantly larger population. He cited hospital beds per 1,000 population at 2.9 versus an EU average of 5.3 and said an extra 5,000 public hospital beds are urgently needed.
Private provision and profits
Murphy criticised the profits drawn from the public system into private health care and noted tax subsidies benefit that sector. He singled out Larry Goodman’s Blackrock Clinic which recently reported a doubling of profits to 14.5 million euros on revenues just under 160 million. He argued private hospitals should be absorbed into the public health system to add capacity and that profiting from the health crisis must stop.
COVID measures, ventilation and masks
He said failures in policy on COVID response have added to the annual crisis, alongside flu and RSV. Murphy urged greater promotion of masks, better ventilation and filtration in public buildings, and listening to groups such as the INMO and unions representing bus drivers. He referenced HEPA filtration being used by world leaders as evidence of practical measures that work.
Nurses, industrial action and public support
Murphy defended the INMO and said nurses and midwives have been left with little choice but to consider industrial action after repeated annual crises. He argued strike action would be popular and galvanise public support, noting a TV poll he mentioned showed over 80% backing for strike action by nurses and midwives, and pointed to recent nurse strikes in Britain as an example of pressure prompting negotiations.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
I think it's important to say that the health crisis that we have, the trolley crisis that we have on an annual basis, is not a natural disaster. It's not a natural function of winter. It is a policy-made disaster. It's a policy-made disaster that we get on a regular basis. And those policies are a commitment to a two-tier, fragmented health service with a chronic lack of capacity and staffing in emergency departments, in acute and elective hospital services, in ICU, in public health teams, in primary care, in GP services, in mental health and disability services, in step-down, nursing home places and home care, and more. It's a commitment to continuing a for-profit part of our health service. And the for-profit part of our health service only works, only exists, if there are problems with our not-for-profit parts of our health service. And then, finally, this year, on top of those annual problems, we do have an extra problem in terms of policy to do with COVID, where the government did not take the continuing threat of COVID, and on top of that, of course, you have the flu, you have RSV, seriously enough. There isn't anywhere near enough of an effort in terms of promoting the use of masks. I think we should be listening to the likes of the INMO, to the likes of the unions representing bus drivers. There isn't still action in terms of ventilation, filtration, in our public buildings. I saw a picture earlier on from Davos, where there was a number of world leaders sitting down, having a conversation, that HEPA filters in front of them, because it works, because it has an impact. And so it's added to the crisis. So it's policy-driven. It does not have to be this way. And I do feel that often in the conversations that happen around the regular health crisis, there is an attempt to obfuscate and to present the whole thing as kind of more complicated than it really is, and just beyond anyone's understanding. It's just, we just keep giving money to this thing, and it still doesn't seem to work, you know, just to make people think there's nothing that can possibly be done about it. And, of course, there are complex parts about it. Of course, there are issues in terms of structure and so on. But at the very basic basis of the health crisis that we have, that it particularly expresses itself every winter, is a basic issue around capacity in terms of beds and staff to go with those beds. Where, in the early 1980s, Ireland had 17,500 hospital beds in our health system. Today, bed capacity is just over 11,000. That's the same as it was in 2009, when we had a population that was half a million people lower than it is today. And that's at the core of the crisis. In my opinion, that's the most important fact that explains why we have the crisis that we have. And you compare hospital beds per 1,000 population of this country, 2.9, to the EU average, 5.3, where little more than half of the EU average. And an extra 5,000 hospital beds are urgently needed in the public health system to address this core capacity problem. And then the other side of this is the enormous profits that are made in private health care in this country. Vast amounts of public money are being drained off into the private sector, which also benefits from massive tax subsidies. Three weeks ago, Larry Goodman's Blackrock Clinic reported a doubling of profits to 14.5 million euros on revenues of just under 160 million. That this profiting from our health crisis must stop. We should stop having a public health service that is underfunded, under-resourced, and then allows the private health system to operate. And the private hospitals should be absorbed into the public system to contribute to the extra capacity that we need. And we need to take these into the public health system. We need to build an all-Ireland national health service. I finally want to say a couple of sentences in relation to the possibility of industrial action by the INMO representing nurses and midwives. Because they are really on the front line, together with the patients in the hospitals, of the crisis that is of the government's making. And every year, they're the ones that come out with the trolley watch figures. They're the ones that put this on the political agenda, put real pressure on the government. And every year, we get the commitments to say, action will be taken, this is going to stop. And yet, it happens year after year, and it is now worse than ever. And so, I think that nurses and midwives have been left with no choice but to take action. We can see from Britain, with a hard-nosed Tory government, that strike action by nurses have put serious pressure, even on them, to negotiate. Industrial action by nurses and midwives here would be enormously popular. I mean, I was on a TV programme, they asked people to text in, and it was something like over 80% of people said they would support strike action by nurses and midwives. And it would have the impact of galvanising public support in a mass campaign to force the government to properly invest in our health service, to protect patients' lives and the working conditions of all those who are in it. Thank you.
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
