The Tánaiste and Minister for Health, Ms Harney, has promised a 'substantial increase in the budget for health care', to tackle the worsening overcrowding problems in A&E's around the State.
During her first formal meeting with the Irish Nurses Organisation at its AGM in Dublin, Ms Harney told delegates from the A&E section of the IMO that she had considered their policy proposals and initiatives and would formally respond in a number of weeks.
She said the health service required radical reform starting at the top, with new structures and new financially accountable measures. A priority is staff shortages, career pathways for nurses/midwives and retaining staff within nursing, she said.
Ms Harney said she didn't have a "magic wand" but was "determined to work with those who know first-hand about the difficulties, to find workable solutions to the problems together". A&E problems are symptomatic of the problems in the Health Service in general", she said.
Ms Harney promised there would be a substantial increase in the budget as well as considerable additional resources, but that over €550 million would go towards health sector workers salaries, pointing out that there are now over 120,000 employees in the sector.
She said changes are needed in a number of areas including discharge policy, bed availability, step-down facilties, long-term care, clinical and nursing practices , GP out-of-hours, and alternative assessment units among others.
She said she was concerned at the number of qualified and experienced nurses opting out of the profession, saying it needed to be investigated: "It's not acceptable that we rely, on a large extent, to importing nurses from other countries when we've so many opting out," she said.
The Tanaiste was also concerned at the number of people using A&E when they could visit their GP. "In Dublin alone, only 22 per cent, after examination, require admission to a hospital bed" she said, adding this also needed to be examined.
Ms Harney conceded that medical and front line staff are working under considerable stress and she paid tribute to their "enormous contribution".
INO General Secretary, Mr Liam Doran, said he was encouraged by the Tanaiste's comments and looked forward to working with her to find solutions. He said the A&E situation is worse now than it was 2 and a half years ago when the IMO engaged in two hours of industrial action.
He said the medical model of care has failed the people because nurses and front line staff are not empowered. He said the IMO was already worried about the shape of the reforms, in particular the absense of clinicians from corporate management. He asked the Minister to "make clinicians accountable that they will deliver, rather than management sitting in offices".
Mr Doran pointed out that 3,000 Irish trained nurses left the country last year to practice their profession abroad. He compared this to 1998 when 800 nurses left to work abroad. "Something is fundamentally wrong, and it says a lot about how nurses and midwives are valued at home. You can't have a world class service unless nurses are empowered and recognised" he stressed