Labour's Harry Barrett has welcomed the changes being put in place by the HSE to deal with the long delays and queues at the Community Welfare Office in Castlebar. Barrett had written to HSE management after many complaints by users and staff that things were beginning to spiral out of control due to staff shortages and increased workload.
Barrett stated: “It is still not enough but at least senior management have put together a set of measures that will ease the strain on staff and users of the service. I am glad that my efforts have gone some way towards a solution. Senior management wrote back to me on March 9 and stated that they would put in a system of queue regulation, appoint another member of staff on a temporary basis to assist with form filling, open the offices through lunch where necessary and postpone staff leave in some cases.
“While I am of the view that more staff could have been appointed, I still welcome this as a result. I will also keep a watching brief on this development to be sure that it is having the desired affect.”
