Doctors vote ‘no confidence’ in Minister
THE Irish Hospital Consultants
Association has voted ‘no confidence’ in Minister for Health
Simon Harris.
In a statement, the IHCA said that hospital consultants believe the minister ‘ lacks the understanding to improve hospital conditions for public patients’.
‘Hospital consultants across our public health service no longer have confidence in Minister Harris,’ said IHCA president Dr Donal O’Hanlon.
‘We do not believe that he has the authority, understanding, inclination or experience to deliver timely, quality hospital care for patients. He has become increasingly complacent and deaf to the suffering of patients across Ireland.
The vote was unanimously passed by the council of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) following an emergency meeting which took place on Saturday in Dublin.
The meeting of hospital consultant representatives was called to discuss the deteriorating conditions across acute hospitals and the detrimental impact this is having on public patients, according to the IHCA statement.
They said that record numbers of patients are being treated on trolleys, there are unacceptably long waits in emergency departments, particularly for vulnerable elderly patients, and there are increasing numbers of patients waiting many months and years to access care.
‘Over the last seven months, Minister Harris has failed to honour several commitments to engage with consultant representatives to address the crisis in our acute public hospitals,’ read the statement.
Minister Harris had not responded to a request for comment at the time of going to press.