The hospitals staffing crisis could be substantially alleviated if the skills of non-nursing staff were fully used, SIPTU has claimed. Dublin health services branch secretary Mr Paul Bell said yesterday there were 6,000 non-nursing members in SIPTU in Dublin hospitals alone and if they were trained to provide essential back-up in theatres and other areas hit by staff shortages, a crisis could be averted.
He criticised the proposals of the Minister for Health and Children, Mr Martin, to deal with the crisis. "It is not good enough to constantly state that injections of funding will resolve staff shortages, waiting lists, care of the elderly and the cancellation of urgent surgical procedures. It is now clear that radical action has to be taken and that action is required now," he said.
"The long-term solution is investment in staff who want to remain in the health service and identification of services in crisis, which will allow for effective training programmes to be put in place," he said.
He invited the Minister to meet SIPTU to discuss ways in which its non-nursing members could fill gaps in the service.
Fine Gael's spokesman on health, Mr Gay Mitchell, also criticised the Minister's response to the crisis.
Defending his handling of the crisis on the This Week programme on RTE Radio 1, Mr Martin said "dramatic initiatives" had already been taken to resolve staffing shortages.
He said there had been "a record" intake of nurses by training colleges this year but acknowledged that his Department was "now racing against time".
"We are also working with unions to see what we can do to improve the retention of nurses within the system because that is probably one of the most significant issues facing us," he said.