An additional 12,500 staff will be needed to execute the HSE Winter Plan

It has been found that more employees would need to be hired if the Winter Plan is to be executed successfully in Ireland. If that doesn’t happen, patients who are being treated for corona virus, flu, and other illnesses will suffer, and so will health workers. This is something that is being demanded very early on, including by INMO.

It is estimated that 12,500 staff will need to be recruited to implement the winter plan. But it is doubtful whether there will be any positive moves from HSE in this regard. It is a mystery that HSE has not yet released any details on where the new hospitals and community beds are and where the staff are to handle them.

At the same time, in February, the health department made preparations for large-scale recruitment, but only hired a limited number of people. Their data is still being kept by the health department. Department officials are confident that employees can be traced from the data stored by HSE if necessary.

The government is paying HSE €600 million to fight the winter. The government hopes to use this funding to address the COVID and non-COVID care problems in winter. Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has acknowledged that waiting lists will continue to rise in the winter.

Typically, hospitals receive between 100,000 and 120,000 patients a month during the winter. More than 25,000 patients are being admitted to hospital emergency departments. New appointments and procedures have been put on hold in the wake of the COVID-19. Currently, 8,40,000 patients are waiting for treatment. Facing winter with such a low staff in this situation would create a huge crisis.

HSE estimates that 250 to 350 patients will be on the trolley, even on a typical winter day. The number of patients on trolleys is expected to cross 200 in the coming weeks. At the same time, with the increase in COVID-19 cases, it is even reasonable to doubt whether our hospitals will be able to cope with this.

But organizations like INMO and other observers do not think HSE takes these issues seriously. The HSE CEO Paul had requested people last day to protect themselves this winter. Concerns are being raised in the department that this winter will further aggravate the plight of health workers who are suffering along with patients with COVID disease.