Gino Kenny warns ambulance delays and unsafe hospital overcrowding
Gino Kenny spoke on 1 Mar 2023 in a regional group debate about emergency services, warning that ambulance capacity, response times and overcrowded emergency departments are producing dangerous outcomes. He urged the minister to address staff retention, resource shortages and patient and staff safety, saying long waits on trolleys are unacceptable.
Emergency services under pressure
The deputy commended emergency services for providing cover but said the pandemic exposed major challenges. He cited evidence to the Health Committee from the National Ambulance Service and the Dublin Fire Brigade that demand far outstrips supply and that response times are critical to better outcomes.
Staff retention and capacity concerns
Kenny warned of workforce retention problems across the health service and long-standing capacity and resource issues. He said those shortages lead to worse outcomes, increased burnout and the loss of experienced staff if they are not addressed.
Emergency department conditions
He repeated concerns raised by nurses and unions that conditions in emergency departments are unsafe for both patients and staff. Kenny highlighted reports of people waiting hours, sometimes days, on trolleys and described that situation as "completely dysfunctional" and unacceptable in a wealthy country.
Calls to the minister
Kenny urged the minister to act before the end of the administration to improve response times, staffing and patient safety. He noted unions have warned they may take industrial action to secure assurances on staff and patient safety if conditions are not improved.
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I'd like to thank the regional group for this very important debate. I think it's a very timely debate in relation to emergency services and also to commend emergency services that continue to provide everybody emergency cover in relation to if we have an emergency and we probably all have emergency one part of our life and they do a crucial job in protecting us. and protecting our families and our friends and that has to continue and I think the pandemic has thrown up a huge amount of challenges in relation to healthcare and particularly around that time I think emergency services, Paranumerics, Fire Brigade were really kind of pinned to their collar in relation to the challenges that they were up against and Minister you will understand response times is absolutely critical for better outcomes. and I think we will all agree with that. The National Ambulance Service were at the Health Committee last week with the Dublin Fire Brigade and they kind of stated that there is a huge amount of challenges in relation to staff retention, which is across the board in the health services, capacity issues and issues that go back decades in relation to resources. and they have stated that demand far outstrips supply and if you have a situation like that then you will have worse outcomes for people that need an ambulance at a particular time. So that has to be addressed. All of them issues that the Dublin Fire Brigade and the National Health Service have stated because if you do not have capacity then people will die and so forth. So just another kind of related issue because obviously when Paranumerics and Fire Brigade get to emergency departments there is another issue in relation to emergency departments in our state. and the Irish nurses and the Irish nurses and the Irish nurses have stated this along with other unions that there are situations in emergency departments that are just not conducive not only to patient safety but also to staff safety and they have continuously said to the government that they need to address these issues. otherwise people will die in emergency departments, staff will leave and once staff leave and they get demoralised and get burnt out then you will have an enormous problem. Because people that have decades of experience won't continue in that environment and that has to be addressed because otherwise we will be talking about this continuously. The Irish nurses and the Irish nurses and the Irish nurses and the Irish nurses have said they will go even as far as industrial action in relation to the pursuance of staff safety in relation to not only ED departments but also hospital departments. Minister, that is crucial to address these issues because if nurses organisations such as the IMO are saying that there are situations they find themselves in that are unsafe in a hospital, in a hospital environment, surely alarm bells will have to ring to address these issues as I said retention of staff to address the underlying issues of capacity. I have said this many many times but I will say it again, situations where ED departments, where people find themselves, they go there and obviously they need medical help. But situations where people are hours, sometimes days and trolleys, it's just not acceptable. I don't know how anybody can actually find that acceptable. Ireland is a very, very wealthy country. People have paid tax all their life and when they need that care at that particular time they have to wait days. That is completely dysfunctional. That cannot be acceptable. I know you do not accept that, that people can wait days. That is not an exaggeration. That is a real situation that has happened to many, many people. But you just can't, you know, days, as I said, long amount of hours in ED departments. So Minister, in your time left of this administration, this is extremely important to address. And particularly what the Irish nurses, midwives of the organisation have said, is that this is an assurance of staff, staff safety and patient safety. Thank you.
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