Calls for HSE to address CUH staffing concerns
Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has directly responded to claims made by the CEO of CUH Jennifer Kearney around claims that the hospital will see risks to patient safety due to understaffing come the winter.
Kearney wrote to the HSE and said that delays to the appointment of 800 pre-approved and funded vacancies, as well as normal vacancies, have left the hospital in dangerous position coming into the winter months.
However, speaking on Morning Ireland on Wednesday, Minister MacNeill disputed Kearney’s letter, and said that CUH had gone over budget when it came to staffing.
“The South West region has hired more people this year than any other region, in fact they are significantly over their budget. I have to compare that to the region beside them in Limerick where you have a very busy hospital with much higher emergency department presentations than in Cork. Limerick is within its budget and has hired and maintained its budget – which is a finite budget – each year.
“Cork has had a very significant increase in staffing over the last five to six years of over 40%, it has had a budget increase of over 108%. I am happy to say that the increased activity is only 16%, and there is more to do in Cork to get the best value and deployment out of all the resources that it has been given,” she said.
The trade union representing nursing and midwifery staff at CUH called on the HSE to change the process whereby staffing decisions are made in light of the claims made by Kearney.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), which represents frontline nurses and midwives at CUH, said that not filling the vacancies was “incredibly dangerous”.
The union said that there were over 80 vacant positions for nurses and midwives in Cork University Maternity Hospital (CUMH) and 100 in CUH.
INMO Assistant Director of Industrial Relations Liam Conway said: “Patient care is being sacrificed to the cost-cutting measures and reduction of staffing numbers set out in 2023 by the HSE.
“The potential is for this to result not just in a daily reduction in safety and worsening outcomes for patients, but serious and catastrophic incidents for staff and patients,” he said.
The solution to the problem, said Conway, was to remove the regional and national bureaucratic processes set by the HSE, and let local management “get on with the business of safely staffing frontline services to meet demands in 2026. Our members need to have the autonomy to make the decision to staff frontline services in CUH and CUMH, and they should not be made by HSE senior management 260km away from the front line,” he said.
The INMO’s concerns have been echoed by Cork politicians.
Padraig Rice, Social Democrats TD for Cork South Central, said that HSE needs to get ahead of the looming crisis. “The HSE is storing up foreseeable problems for the winter. If we want a public health service that functions efficiently and safely, then it must be properly staffed and resourced.”
“In the interests of patient safety and the wellbeing of CUH staff, the Minister for Health needs to immediately engage with the HSE and get ahead of this crisis,” he said.
Cork Senator Laura Harmon (Labour) said that the HSE must publish the patient-safety assessment which is underpinning the staffing restrictions at CUH.
“CUH has identified 172 priority posts needed ahead of winter. These are existing vacancies that have been funded and clinically prioritised. The HSE must explain why they are not being filled.
“The minister must also examine staffing pressures across HSE South West before winter.
“Patients in Cork and Kerry deserve to know that staffing decisions are being driven by clinical need, not workforce ceilings. The minister and HSE need to act on these warnings now,” she said.