Fórsa has told the Oireachtas Health Committee ongoing and persistent overcrowding in hospitals will continue unless 96 new community healthcare networks (CHNs) are established, as envisaged under the Sláintecare programme.

In an oral hearing earlier this month, the union told the committee that, if implemented fully and without delay, this measure would allow the health service to provide appropriate care, with health and social care professionals delivering the full range of necessary services in the community.

The union said a necessary shift of care delivery from acute hospitals into the community is vital, and that the only way to avoid hospital admissions, and reduce pressure on acute hospitals, is through initiatives that will see care delivered within the community.

Fórsa also highlighted the need to transition to public-only contracts for hospital consultants and State-employed general practitioners, and a properly resourced home support service.

The Oireachtas committee convened the hearing to discuss the ongoing and persistent overcrowding crisis in hospitals.

Fórsa represents more 30,000 health workers working in hospitals, community health system, residential and social care settings, as well as at the corporate centre of health service planning and delivery, and include health and social care professionals, clerical, administrative, management and technical staff.

Its assistant general secretary Catherine Keogh said the public discourse about health services was frequently driven by headlines about waiting lists and the numbers of patients on trolleys.

Consequently, the discourse is always stuck in crisis mode, and this contributes to a wider sense of understandable anxiety about access to healthcare when people need it. Lists and trolley numbers are useful statistical information, because they illustrate the symptoms of an underlying problem.

“It’s Fórsa’s view that the ongoing and persistent overcrowding crisis in our hospitals – and the underlying problems that drive it – can only be tackled by ensuring that Sláintecare, and in particular, the establishment of the 96 new community healthcare networks is delivered,” she said.

The union pointed out that the Sláintecare report and subsequent implementation plans provide both a durable solution and a roadmap for implementation.

“Sláintecare has cross party support. Sláintecare has citizens’ support. Sláintecare has workers’ support. We would ask that you consider then what are the real inhibitors to its implementation? Why five years since the publication of the initial report is there still the same unrelenting pressures on our hospitals and on our members working in those hospitals?” said Catherine.

She said the only way to avoid hospital admissions and reduce pressure on acute hospitals is through initiatives that will see care delivered within the community. A new report on The Irish State Post-Pandemic, commissioned by Fórsa and produced by the TASC think-tank, was published in February. It included recommendations on the provision of greater integration of government agencies such as home care and health services.

A video of the debate can be viewed here and a transcript of the full committee debate is available here.