Following recent reports of overcrowding at UCHG, Sinn Féin is demanding that action be taken to address “waiting lists and capacity deficiencies” in the hospital.
The call has come from Galway East Sinn Féin representative, Louis O'Hara, who said the reports of overcrowding in UCHG in recent weeks, and warnings of a “very tough winter” ahead for the hospital, were “worrying”.
“Hospital patients are waiting longer than ever,” he said. “More than 900,000 people across the country are on some form of health waiting list. Workers are burned out and are the thread keeping our health services together. The pandemic has taught us that our health service is not fit for purpose.”
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Mr O’Hara [pictured above] said IT modernisation and the implementation of an integrated waiting list management system with a centralised referral system, to make healthcare more accessible needs to be implemented.
“As it stands, patients are referred to multiple consultants instead of a single, centralised system based on waiting lists,” he said. “The waiting list data itself is wrong - how can we measure success and failure if simple metrics like waiting lists are inaccurate?”
Sinn Fein is calling for the establishment of an Irish National Health Service, which it will propose in its alternative budget this year. This would mean expanding universal primary care, removing private healthcare from public hospitals, and ensuring the health service can meet the health needs of the population.
