The Tánaiste and Labour party leader Joan Burton has claimed that management at hospitals across the country should make sure that beds which are currently closed are made available to patients who are in desperate need them.
That Tánaiste also said that the Health Minister Leo Varadkar will do all he can to help management at the effected hospitals to make sure they can accept as many patients as possible. The Tánaiste’s latest comments come as the INMO have insisted that next week’s planned strike of emergency department nurses will go ahead unless there is a major change in the numbers of people on trolleys.
Ms Burton said that both the HSE and the Department of Health will need to show leadership if they are to ease the crisis, Ms Burton said: “That can only be resolved by leadership – leadership on the part of the HSE, leadership from the Department of Health.”
“Because we have great doctors and nurses, they’re committed to their patients, we all know that, and given the resources that are now devoted to health in Ireland, we should be able to produce better results for everybody – particularly patients.”