Protest against hospital overcrowding to take place

CONCERNED Cavan protest takes place this Saturday afternoon

A demonstration will take place outside Cavan and Monaghan General Hospitals as part of the National Day of Action Protest Against Hospital Overcrowding.

The protest takes place on Saturday, January 21, at 1pm.

Aontú’s Cllr Sarah O’Reilly, who will be joining the campaign, says: “People are extremely concerned over the continuing damage that is being done to our health service. Government are blaming people for getting sick. That has to stop. The crisis has been caused by the lack of capacity in the system.”

Cavan General Hospital is set to get a new A&E and 16 bed ward.

However the Cavan councillor blames the government for the current crisis, and claims the pressure being felt in A&Es is leading to excess deaths and significantly damaged health of people across the country.

Cuts

“It’s not happening by accident. It is a direct result of years of cuts to staff, hospital beds and A&Es at a time there has been significant population increase. Our Health Service is designed for a population of 3.5 million people not 5.5 million people that we have now. We don’t have the hospital beds, the ICU beds or the staff for the population. Major cuts were implemented after the banking crash.

“We have 6,000 less hospital beds than in 2008, 200 too fewer ICU beds, 30% too few GPs. There are 700 vacant consultant posts in the health system. In 15 years the government closed eight A&Es.”

Support

Urging people to join her outside hospitals in Cavan and Monaghan, she said: “This campaign wishes to show our support and appreciation to nurses, doctors and healthcare assistants who are working in unacceptable conditions.

“We object to any further closures that may put extra pressure on our local hospitals. We are calling for smaller hospitals to be resourced to provide much needed capacity. We are demanding reform of the HSE from the top down. We want funding to be focused at front line services and not layers of management and finally, we’re here in solidarity with patients that are lying on trolleys and waiting unacceptable lengths of time to be attended to.”