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LEO VARADKAR HAS doubled down on comments he made about doctors and nurses not taking annual leave over the Christmas and new year period.
Speaking about the demands placed on the health service at this time of year, the Taoiseach yesterday said consultants should not take holidays in the first week of the year, particularly those who work in emergency departments, and that nurses should not take leave in the first two weeks of January.
The remarks were criticised by some, who felt it was not Varadkar’s place to tell medical staff when to take holidays. He has acknowledged that he doesn’t have the authority to dictate when employees take leave but defended his stance.
The Taoiseach told reporters in Helsinki today that he didn’t understand why the comments were controversial, saying he was simply pointing out that services must attempt to meet demand.
Varadkar said: “People will always misrepresent what you say and that often happens when you speak the truth in politics…
“Every business, every industry, every service has a period of peak demand.
“If you’re working in retail, it’s the week running up to Christmas. If you’re working in education, it’s the first week or two of September. If you’re in politics, it’s Budget week and the few weeks around the Budget. If you’re in tourism, it’s the summer period and the bank holidays.
“And it makes sense if you’re running your service or your business well to always make sure that you match peak demand with peak resources.
So we know peak demand happens in our health service in the first two weeks in January, therefore it makes sense that the minimum number of staff should be on leave during that period.
No bed should be closed because people are on leave. The emergency department and medical consultants should be there. The surgeons can take their holidays during that period because most of the operations get cancelled anyway.
“So it’s a question of meeting peak demand with peak resources, and that’s the norm across industry, the norm across services. It should be the norm across the health service as well. It shouldn’t be a controversial comment to say that when we have peak demand, when patients need our staff most, they should be there.”
The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has warned of a “perfect storm” that will see over 1,000 people on hospital trolleys this winter.
‘Entirely predictable’
Varadkar said the annual new year strain on services is “entirely predictable”, noting that between 22 December and 3 January about seven days are bank holidays or fall on the weekend.
He said, during this period, hospitals essentially operate on “a skeleton staff”, stating: “Radiology departments don’t work at full throttle, laboratories don’t work at full throttle.
So patients come in, they don’t get their full tests, they don’t get their diagnosis, they don’t get their treatments. The numbers add up and up and up, and guess what happens in the first week in January?
“So what I’m saying is, that needs to change this year, we need to have more activity in the hospitals during that period, during the holiday period. And of course staff would be paid for that and of course staff would get their annual leave entitlement, but you do need to match your resources with your demand.”
Varadkar added that a “huge amount of additional resources” have been put into the health service in the last two years. He said the service has 1,500 more nurses than this time two years ago, 250 more beds than 12 months ago, and 10,000 doctors overall – more than ever before.
He said the additional resources alone are not enough, that they need to be properly managed and deployed.
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Will he shorten or cancel his own holidays to oversee the various crises that emerge over the winter/Christmas period? I think not. Our nurses and care assistants as well as others do a great job under an awful system. As a doctor/minister for health and now Taoiseach this clown is useless. He needs to go at the next election
@P Quinn: was thinking the very same thing !
@P Quinn: oversee in what way? Are you saying our Taoiseach should be standing around an a &e department over Christmas observing and stroking his chin?
@David Clements: no clearly not. But Leo (and the rest of the dail) wouldn’t sacrifice their holiday to fix the mess they are paid very well for.. now, did you really need that explained?
@Dave Thomas: so how do you suggest that hospital services are maintained across the Christmas period unless there are people working? Or maybe let’s just focus on whataboutery as usual.
@David Clements: he is stroking something now..and its not his chin !!!
@David Clements: the Taoiseach is a medical professional. He is perfectly placed to oversee any large crises that emerge and respond accordingly. Leaders must lead by example, however Leo is quite happy to appoint blame and take none himself. His party have overseen serious cuts to the health sector and now he blames the staff. He’s a self righteous pr!ck.
@P Quinn: Don’t remember ever having voted for him to begin with.
@P Quinn: A failed doctor telling doctors and nurses how to do their job. Typical. He is utterly useless
@Dave Thomas: so if there is a storm/snow you won’t see government representatives giving updates?
Politicians aren’t perfect by any stretch but the desire on here to bash everything they say or do is becoming really irritating!
He is dead right. If you work in tourism it’s likely you aren’t allowed to take holidays during the summer, retail – in the run up to Christmas, finance – at the end of the month etc. Why should hospital staff not have to work at the busiest time of the year?
@Vincent Doyle: St
@Vincent Doyle: Stupid democracy not allowing for every person who gets a vote, to be elected.
Tut tut.
@joe:They do its bedlam all year round
@P Quinn: What difference do you think he’ll make by not taking a holiday. None. I agree with him. He’s got this spot on
@David Clements: our taoiseach you are funny he got no mandate to be taoiseach he is a clown
@joe: So as Government forms policies re eg Housing &Health and there are National emergencies in Homelessness Housing and Health then Government TDs should have to be recalled during summer,winter etc holidays in order to adequately tackle the emergencies!
By the way with medical staff including consultants highlighting dangers
of hospital overcrowding all through the year not just in winter& calling them ‘death zones’ why no adequate emergency response during year from Government & why isn’t Slaintecare adequately funded?
@John Walsh: failed doctor
Failed minister for health
Failed minister for tourism
Just one big failure
Standing around stroking his chin
It’s unusual for a prime minister of a country to tell hospital staff when they can take annual leave, I would have thought this falls under the remit of the health minister unless he’s on holiday or hiding from the media :o
@Mrs M: The frightened school boy Harris, certainly would not have made the statement concerning the holidays of medical staff. He would not thought of it on his own. Hospital staff stretched to breaking point, and that fool Varadkar point the finger of blame at them rather than that incompetent Harris.
@Donal Desmond: you think the minister for health creates working rotas for hospitals? Shows what you know.
@Mrs M: It’s an unusual health service!
@Only here for the comments: No, Leo and his government just sustain and maintain a health service not fit for purpose which does not meet the needs of our population in terms of bed capacity, staff numbers required, capacity to run laboratory/xray/diagnostics outside of office hours and at weekends/bank holidays. Almost one in five people in this country are waiting for hospital appointments or to see consultants and those waiting for surgery can wait up to five years,not to mention no hospital emergency dental services or mental health provision which is at critical levels. All we get are promises that it will get better ie universal health care but somehow it only gets worse and every day we see another family in court trying to get compensation for people damaged by our health service, telling over worked staff that they can’t take their entitlement to holidays …..is this really the best FFG have to offer us, I’ve no doubt they will disappear for the holidays in December and will return in the spring only to disappear for the ST. Pats holidays just as quickly,nothing changes, sweet talking Leo.
@Donal Desmond: Ha. Using the words of the guy folks were screaming for Harris to fire, against Harris.
We really do stupid very well in this country.
@Mrs M: varadkar knows what he is talking about being himself a medical doctor! In France it is the same :Xmas holidays are controlled so as to keep hospital working normally. Generally as I of the team with older children I always was on watch for Xmas and Easter. was the eldest
@Only here for the comments: the minister for health is responsible for approving the allocation of the health budget which directly effects work rotas. The minister allows the HSE to use waiting lists as a way to manage costs. The minister oversees a budget policy that does not allow a service to run at weekends or nights. Staff on maternity leave deliberately not being replaced for cost cutting = longer waiting lists. Diagnostic machines not being operated at night = longer waiting lists. The ministers policy and FG and FF policy before it is to use waiting lists to keep cost down because It has reached a point where the HSE knows empty beds are more cost effective than occupied ones. I don’t care if the minister is drawing up hospital rotas or not. The minister is responsible for the provisions of service part of the effective running of which is staffing levels. So yes the minister is responsible for this. I know it may be a departure from the norm to actually believe ministers are responsible for anything but he is.
Instead of restricting people’s annual leave which they are entitled to take, how about sufficiently resourcing the health service and leave won’t be an issue
@Anthony: Really? so we’re not spending enough on health? Think we’re one of the biggest spenders on health in the world.
@offtheball: We are spending in the completely wrong places when it comes to HSE, too many pun pushers and not enough frontline staff
@offtheball: We have a growing, ageing population. More illnesses are curable and new medications for existing conditions. The health bill is always going to grow.
@Adam Johnson: Factual data please?
@offtheball: we are under staffed. That is the issue here. Not annual leave
@Anthony: restricting??? Eh, ensuring they are properly planned! Bit, just a bit of a difference don’t you think.
@Anthony: understaffed or over spent? Again, there is a difference. Destroy and rebuild. The service is not fit for purpose, excellent, excellent staff, from my experience. Totally let down by management which needs to be ripped out like the cancer it is. Alas cut and paste for many many government bodies.
@Anthony: you’re entitled to take annual leave at your employer’s discretion.
@joe: Yes, but it’s open to abuse. The few hospitals we have should have enough staff to cover holidays. It’s not as though this doesn’t happen every year. I can easily see medical staff being stressed and looking forward to a planned break. I really don’t think it’s healthy to have to cancel a much-needed break. They give so much time to patients – they should be able to rely on having time off as planned. I never minded working during Christmas when it was needed. But it’s November and if they have booked anywhere, it’s a bit late to change everyone’s plans without notice.
For once I wholeheartedly agree with him
@Martin Power: as a staff nurse, I am not allowed to take leave at after the 1st week in December, I can’t take leave at the same time as other staff in my skill bracket, I also can’t carry leave not taken over into the following year and now this gob$h!te of a Taoiseach thinks we shouldn’t have leave in January either…..when pray tell can we???
@Niamh Whyte: February to November???
@Niamh Whyte: When it’s not peak load?
In a prrivate company here, plenty of staff unable to book over Mid Dec to Early Jan as it’s our peak season.
You just take your holidays elsewhere in the year.
@Tony Harris: What is so different about February to November,it’s not as though services run any better in that time frame, it’s always chaos, my husband spent a week in A&E recently, yes a week so I’m afraid poor Niamh and her colleagues will have to go sick themselves or emigrate,just don’t ask for time off or holidays,Leo will see red.
@Fergus: But what about losing the time due to you? That’s sheer mismanagement and staff pay the price.
@Tony Harris: My annual leave was cancelled in the summer as the hospital was so I have now gone nearly 7 months without a holiday. I also remind you that I’ve worked nearly every bank holiday. I had to swap days for my sisters wedding. I’m sick of it at this stage. I’m exhausted and we are not fully in winter yet. I’d happily go take a job in England or Australia where at least I’m respected. Did you enjoy your holidays this year???
He’s deflecting from other issues , one of his many advisors has told him to get the boot in first after Health unions voted for strike
@Martin Doherty: he may well be but he’s still calling it exactly as it is.
.
@offtheball: the crisis isn’t simply two weeks long. He should know this. It’s spinning and PR and damage limitation for the future. Here to fire it was “ unprecedented levels of flu patients “ who caused the problem over this “ crisis period”. Obviously his spin doctors told him he couldn’t use this excuse again this year so they had to find something else. Things sure as hell aren’t running smoothly the other 50 weeks of the year now are they. Not looking for a row OTB but frontline staff holliers are only a tiny factor in this ongoing mess
All the medical and surgical wards are still open over the Christmas period. All ward level nursing staff and On Call Doctors are in working the most unsociable hours going. Its tough leaving your family on Christmas morning… no money in the world would make it any easier…Its all the other departments that need to be in working… the Radiology Department, speech and language, and physio. Its ridiculous all other departments literally shut down over this period, essentially putting patients at risk… leave the ward level nurses alone. If everyone else was working there wouldnt be such a back log of patients in the new year….
@Emma O’Neill: exactly. As a consultant I for one never get extended leave never mind at Christmas neither do my colleagues. Am thrilled if if have the day itself off. Secondly me being there or my judging colleagues does not get the lab test done or the physiotherapy or the patients fed or the ward cleaned.
@Emma O’Neill: As a Radiographer working in a major Dublin teaching hospital I can tell you that our dept does not shut down over Xmas nor any other time of the year. We run a 24hr service 365 days a year!!!
@Emma O’Neill:
You are completely wrong regarding radiology Emma.
Radiology departments are open 365 days a year 24hrs a day.
Radiographers work on call all year and over Christmas, sometimes working 24hr, 12hr, 20hr shifts most of which we work alone covering A+e, wards, MRI, CT, interventional areas, theatre, ICU the list goes on!
Anyone who needs a scan or emergency radiology procedure will get it done asap. No patients are “put at risk” as you say due to radiology.
I haven’t had a full Christmas off in over 10 years.
An Aunty of mine was put into an induced coma having had a stroke at Xmas a few years ago in Blanchardstown. Because not enough staff and machines were available, she now can’t hold a conversation, is partially blind and unable to write. She was more than a week in a coma.
I know that all medical staff work very hard but there are those who do not on a 24 hour shift. Accidents and emergency’s don’t stop, so why are wards closed and machines turned off. Private hospitals should be able to take up the pressure seen as the consultants are double jobbing in both private and public sectors
@Jeanniejampots:
Galway University Hospital Radiology department is open 365 days a year 24 hours a day. Radiographers are on call for AE X-ray/CT/MRI theatre emergencies every day of the year and that doesn’t change at Christmas!!
Leo has lost so many votes with his outrageous statement!!!
@Bredge Mc Namee: but is it not only emergency/on call scans done?
Can’t argue with his logic. (Also can’t believe I’m agreeing with Varadkar
@Shane Fitzgibbon: As he sips champagne – this is a distraction from his and his goverments failure in health – transfer blame
@Shane Fitzgibbon: Our emergency services work extremely hard all year round. Remind me when Leo’s Christmas holidays start and at what point in January does it finish? Maybe Leo and Simon could show the way here, practise what they preach. I won’t hold my breadth though.
Nurses union to ballot over staffing and retention /recruitment issues and surprise surprise Varadkar is trying to sway public opinion against the one group of public sector employees who have worked around the clock 25/7 365 to do the very job that he cannot .
Playing politics and kite flying .
@AlanH -AFC: 24/7 ( adding extra hours )
@AlanH -AFC: he obv can’t do a doctors job either and they also work 24/7 365
Leo, instead of attacking those staff who are at their wits end dealing with understaffed and under resourced wards, how about putting money into new wards and new beds to meet the demand? Oh but that of course would mean trying to get people to work in them when its next to impossible to recruit.
@Linda Oreilly: I’d live to see a proper breakdown of cost between the irish health service and say Denmark s. I would suspect the hse couldn’t even provide a proper breakdown of where they spend 17 billion.
Until you know what you’re spending it on throwing more money at it isn’t going to create a better service.
@ed w:
Excellent idea Ed!
PAC should request a sampling exercise be carried out of the 1,000 highest volume, highest value material supplies’ / inputs/consumable items utilized daily by HSE.
Tests should include enquiry whether proper routines are in place to ensure best available prices are being obtained for each item.
Then compare prices on all items in sample against each EU country, not just against Denmark, to see how HSE is measuring up on its procurement Management versus 27 others.
€17 billon annual budget should be sufficient in delivering a world class public health service for our citizens.
@Rory J Leonard: HSE accountants once looked at a hospitals pharmacy budget and wanted to cut out a product as it was costing far too much. It was literally the only thing keeping tiny babies alive.
@Linda Oreilly: Linda, where did he attack staff???? Please tell me so I don’t spend my break thinking you are a tool.
If Leo was any sort of a Leader he would lead by example and give up his holidays and work in a hospital over Christmas!
@blackcoffee: you do know his Partner is a Doctor in the Mater and will be impacted by this?
Unfortunately what he is requesting is need to help ensure there is some chance that January will be manageable in the hospitals.
@Ted Logan:
Socky is a qualified doctor.
He can help out himself.
Christmas needs to be cancelled for Varadkar.
It’s a nasty trend from Leo to blame governance issues on ordinary workers down the chain, I think anyone experienced with hospitals would agree that the frontline staff have one of the most difficult and demanding jobs in the country given how underesourced they are for it.
He did the same with housing when he claimed it was an issue caused by the councils and yet again in social protection when his solution to funding mismanagement was to encourage a public witch hunt towards those claiming social welfare. Protecting the high ranks at all cost while blaming those on the bottom appears to be his mantra.
As a trained doctor, I hope Socky will give up his holiday and volunteer as a junior doctor throughout his 6 week holiday.
Why did Government take the full summer holidays during ongoing National emergencies in Homelessness Housing and Health,no sense of URGENCY to ADEQUATELY tackle these emergencies!?
Why did Government refuse FF TD John Mc Guinness request for Dail to be recalled to urgently deal with the Affordable Housing and Fair Mortgage Bill?
Why didn’t Varadkar reinstate the independent HSE Board abolished by Reilly in 2011 when he was Minister for Health from 2014-2016?Plus how many of the 12,000 staff cut from the Health service from 2009-2014 did he replace from 2014-2016?Also there was a 21,000 inpatient drop and 30,000 day case drop from 2009-2014,what did he do as Minister for Health to rectify this?Why did he cut €12m from the €35m mental health budget before he left the Minister for Health job when mental health spending was and is inadequate?
is this not the other boys job?
@Siobhàn Malone: big brother looking out for his weaker sibling kinda scenario
@Siobhàn Malone: I wonder could he give examples of his claims, hospital beds closed because the staff are off on leave for the first two weeks in January, I find this very difficult to believe.
The reality is that most, if not all, of our hospitals are operating at beyond 100% capacity, this is of course with far less than a full compliment of staff, doctors, nurses and the various ancillary staff who never seem to be mentioned but are just as vital. We know that every Winter the additional load placed upon our hospitals will ensure that patients will line the corridors on trolleys and the delays and overcrowding will reach dangerous levels and, inevitability, patients will die.
Yet there’s no planning for this, it’s as if we couldn’t see it happening year after year. Oh the tragedy, who could possibly have anticipated Winter’s arrival at this time of year?? I’m told hospital staff are required to have taken the majority of their leave before the end of the year, must book it well in advance and, generally as a courtesy to their colleagues, ensure they have cover. This render’s Leo’s comments somewhat moot, I can only assume they were designed to be deliberately sensational. If only we could guess what he was trying to deflect attention from…?
What he’s saying is not in itself unreasonable. He could have been a bit more tactful though.
Maybe he’d like to go and volunteer as a porter at one of the busier hospitals for a week. Lead by example sort of thing.
@Damocles: Great idea. He was happy to “volunteer” as an RTE radio presenter over the busy christmas schedule one year so he clearly has some time to spare over the festive period.
@Damocles: nah we’d have to train him and that pulls another member of staff away from their job some what to do that. All the areas he mentioned are open 365/247 – he’s just taking a cheap shot, let him, we cover Xmas we cover snow days and hurricane days and he’s well aware of that
So why are nurses getting targeted if it is in fact radiology staff and laboratory staff who need to be working at full throttle over the holiday period? Nursing staff always ensure there is adequate nursing cover over the holiday period.
@Melissa Casey: looming industrial action – turn the victims into the problem.
I honestly don’t think they are capable of a different approach to governing.
This is very frustrating its is the nurses and carers with a limited medical staff who keep the hospitals going. We the nurses can’t annual leave over these 2 weeks if we are lucky we might get 1 single annual leave day over the 2 weeks of there is enough staff.
There is very much reduced physio, dietician, radiography, pharmacy, and medical staff rostered over the bank holidays at Christmas and New Year. If there was more consultants on duty on these days more discharges could be made but it’s the same every weekend not just Christmas. Very little scan or mri are done out of 9-5 if these were done 24/7 like the private sector diagnosis would be made faster allowing faster treatment and discharges.
Overall I’m insulted by his attitude towards nurse and I won’t vote for Fine Gael again.
@Maura O Riordan: There simply aren’t enough doctors to adequately cover weekends without having a situation where people are working 7/7 or 6/7 days per per week every week or 24hr+ shifts without sufficient rest.
Half expecting him to tell them they should also work for free! (while himself and his idiot political buddies take their month long hols and collect their 20-30k monthly pay and expenses over the same period)
Wow,mr varadkar is getting carried away with power and listening too much to EU dictators.
Reality check and logical argument. No point in throwing millions of euro at the front line if the support Departments – radiology, physiotherapy etc. are operating with skeleton staffing! Of course everybody would like to be off with family over Christmas period but what about all the thousands of much less well-paid workers in the retail and hospitality sector who have to work through this peak period? Sort out the management issues first before putting any more taxpayers money into Emergency services.
Some nurses are working 13hour shifts as it is , believe me they need here Holidays.the Holiday issue is not the cause and not the solution .reality the Health Service have been like a war zone for many years now. The closing , downgrading of hospitals nation wide over the years had cost the state more than the proposed savings , through somebody’s big imagination of services in one big Hospital.Total fail system ,reopen local county Hospitals is the solution
I believe Leo is a doctor, why can’t he help out in A&E over the period that he is talking about, all hands on deck, lead by example etc,etc,etc…
Can’t argue with his logic. (Also can’t believe I’m agreeing with Varadkar)
When you’ve screwed up so badly that the health service is barely functioning, do you A) Get on with fixing it or B) attack frontline professionals in an attempt to pit people against each other?
It’s always B with the Irish branch of the conservatives. The health system is a shambles, not as a result of a lack of work by nurses and doctors but as a result of disastrous policies and underfunding in priority areas by successive FF and FG ministers. Let’s be clear, Leo was one of these and made it even worse. So instead of following this line of thought, we need to face reality – tory boy has been a disaster for this country. Solidarity with doctors and nurses on this.
This is more of do as i say not what i do from Leo and his yes men and women government. They have barely come back from the summer holidays and they off for the mid term and next it’s Xmas break and it goes on and on great country.
His logic is sound, I’ve worked for several cpnpanys that have peak periods and due to this holidays canbe restricted at these periods.
The priority is the customer or in this case patients.
Yes it sucks that holidays are restricted, but that’s the nature of peak periods.
Does he not realize or care that doctors and nurses have families how many weeks holidays will he get over the Christmas
There goes Socky speaking as if the health service is a business again.
And him a trained doctor. He’s an utter monster.
Mr. Varadkar’s partner will of course not be taking any leave over Christmas I hope.
Sounds like common sense really, to suggest that hospitals manage staffing levels to ensure that the busiest periods are not made worse by clusters of annual leave. Same should apply at Easter, and Halloween, and the same advice could be extended to other frontline services such as Fire Fighters, Gardaí, …
Varadkar who was a doctor for a short period and ditched that job.
Varadkar was Minister for Health for a time and made little or no impression in that job and could not wait to escape from that position as he was getting nowhere in it.
Varadkar who is now Taoiseach has now a few ideas on how to run the health service as he now realizes that there are additional demands placed on the health service at this time of year,
Well done Leo for stating the bleeding obvious.
Completely agree with him. He’s absolutely right on this
Supposed to be a secular state, Dail should sit Xmas day.
is a 24×7 shift job, it was in the description in the add.
Why all the surprise now?
In my work we do nothing as close to importance as healthcare, we gotta have the holidays covered.
No mention of the 10:1 ratio of silky suits paper people employed in HSE that create endless processes and initiative vs the actual medical people that deliver the service.
The types that gave us the cervical check fiasco. Those people actually didn’t help in fact you only made the health service much worse.
Go into a operating room some day, or have a loved one on a 50:50, ask yourself do consultants need christmas holidays with their family. They deserve as much as any banker and once you see them making those life altering decisions everyday you’d agree. Shamless diversion wordy of Trump
FFS, hire more staff and pay the ones you have properly.
Fascist
@Kevin Slater: that word actually has a meaning.
These idiot politicians will come back from their xmas hols themselves around the 3rd week of jan, ready to collect their ridiculuous expense claims, and they’ll likely have another crisis, (like a fodder crisis) a month or so later, and what’ll they do, they’ll disappear because they don’t have a clue how to manage anything.
What a complete tool
So basically, because everyone apart from nurses and doctors take the entire 2 or 3 weeks of Christmas and New Year off, nurses and doctors are then not allowed to take holidays at the start of January. Well, maybe call this simplistic, but why not have a functioning health service when it is required? Mondays, Fridays, Sundays and Bank Holidays? Days and nights?
No one works harder than me, I work harder than anyone in government and this includes those in healthcare, give up the holidays and do the job!
Leo did what he set out to do… distract and deflect. crisis in the HSE is much larger and longer than the Christmas period and as a medic Leo should know this As a former nurse I certainly do. He has the stupidity to state that consultants/ surgeons wouldn’t need to work because most of their cases are cancelled or rescheduled during that period.it’s frontliners who are expected to pick up the threads and therein lies Leo’s biggest HSE problem.. stop pandering to consultants etc. “encourage” ahem them to stop piggybacking both systems and get their lists in order. Can’t believe people are falling for his nonsense.. he’s spinning before the proverbial hits the fan!!!!! Btw annual leave can’t be carried over so I wonder when he thinks the crisis is over so annual leave can be taken
@sinead foley-coleman: and to be fair I shouldn’t even be singling our consultants in all cases because some do work diligently….It’s the fekin management that’s the problem
True, that’s the horrible part. Staff are simply going to lose the invaluable time off unless there are enough people employed to provide normal, predictable holiday cover.
And I suspect that the crisis will be over when the USC is.
Ever hear of the philosophy of servant leadership Leo; roll up your slieves and change a few bed pans over the holiday season? ……what?……no?…..I didn’t think so….
Leo is a buffoon & an embarrassment. Will he give a dig out in an A&E department? Will the health ministers wife not get her holidays? Leo should keep his nose out of other people’s business.
@Lou Sypher: Rubbish. I would rate him up there with Churchill, Ghandi and Mandela.
@Paul Whitehead: more like boris johnson !
looks like he knows the game is up…he is starting to realize that ya can’t bully and blame everyone for the mess while not accepting some responsibility for himself and his government.we are simply paying the price for the bailout and all the cuts…something has to give….and if this is as good as it gets when we are allegedly in the middle of a good run i dread to think what it will be like come the next downturn…which is not that far away …
If any of you fancy some larks:
https://twitter.com/DamoclesBDA/status/1060197466404990978?s=19
. @merrionstreet is there any truth to the rumour that @campaignforleo is going to be volunteering at the Mater over the Christmas period?
Healthcare turning into a 9-5, a resolution to the trolly crisis takes precedence over this.
Ridiculous comment from Varadkar. In an efficient health system, there would be no need for the national political leader to dictate down to the front line operatives regarding professional productivity expectations. That would be the function of the department of health and the administrative echelons all the way down. His comments actually represent unwitting confirmation of their basic incompetence to organise and implement the blooming Christmas roster!!
Heard the phrase “self rostering ” from a nurse this week. This is where in the department they were working you decided what days over Christmas suited you to work. So far out of an expected 9 to work a ward on Christmas day, only 4 had “volunteered”. Have no time for FG but this issue wasn’t plucked out of no where. Both my husband and son will work on Christmas day this year, yes it’s going to be hard but that’s the nature of the job.
“the beatings will continue until morale improves”
What a fool of a man you can have all the doctors and nurses you want in the hospital but unless you have beds the hospital will still be in the same mess as every other time of year
There is a lot of speculation here. Where is the data? How many staff in what fields take how many days AL over the 12 days of Christmas? I speculate that that the actual numbers will come as a surprise to Mr Varadkar.
Jeez the sock monster really is so out of touch unreal really cannot wait for an election to rid ourselves of this fool …hey Leo you got no mandate to be taoiseach
Makes perfect sense, well said Taoiseach!
Not a fair reflection of frontline staff but has anyone ever received an appointment for a Saturday or Sunday? Why not roster staff to ensure we have 24h 365 day health system. Loose the managers and hire more frontliners
Makes perfect sense … says it straight … so refreshing … great Taoiseach
We are the only country in Europe that shuts down hospitals for 2 weeks over Xmas. Leo is right.
“the beatings will contnue morale improves”
It’s the other departments that need to work. It’s nothing to do with doctors and nurses. They are there every day over Christmas. Everything goes on slow mode because other departments like radiology and theatre close same as on weekends. Once again nurses get the backlash for everyone else’s incompetence
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Proper idiot
Better spoof than most tho
Would love his hr when he was a doctor to,publish his working hours just to make sure he practises what he preaches☺️
Shambles.
we just can’t have a grown up discussion in this country on health services. because of this we get the health service we deserve. depressing
have your say