Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 March 2010
48 Deputy Jan O’Sullivan asked the Minister for Health and Children the plans that are in place to ensure patients and their families are protected and will have access to the information they need in the context of the planned escalation of industrial action in the health services commencing this week; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10662/10]
View answerThe Health Service Executive received notice on 22 February from the trade union IMPACT of its intention to intensify its members' industrial action with effect from Monday, 1 March. The HSE was informed that, in addition to their existing actions, IMPACT members would refuse to take on work in regard to any vacancy, not just those vacancies that have arisen since the general industrial action commenced on 25 January 2010; refuse to participate in all work relating to the HSE's reconfiguration programme; refuse to deal with all political representations, including parliamentary questions and freedom of information requests; and refuse to answer telephones, including mobile telephones, for specified periods of time, to be advised by the union, with little advance notice to management. This will apply unless a specific derogation for emergency cover has been agreed with the union.
Clearly, health service employers are very concerned about the potential impact of this intensification of the industrial action on services and patient safety. I share this concern. I assure the Deputy that the situation is being monitored on a daily basis by the HSE and my Department. It is a matter of great regret to me to see patients and the public inconvenienced in this way. There is no doubt that following a period of rapid increases in funding, health services are now facing the challenge of managing within much tighter resource constraints. There is scope within our health system, by reforming how services are delivered, to achieve more through greater efficiency and concentrating on services that contribute most to people's health and well-being. There is an onus on all concerned — Government, management, trade unions and employees — to find a way of engaging in the reforms that are needed to deliver better services to patients.
If the Government had not pulled out of talks with health service unions before the budget, we would be well on our way to achieving the types of reforms we all want to see in the health service. The information provided by the Minister at the start of her reply was given to me by the Minister of State, Deputy Áine Brady, who kindly responded to my matter on the Adjournment last Thursday. Has the Minister had any reports on the effects of the action in the health service? Has she met with representatives of any union besides IMPACT? SIPTU, for example, also has a large number of workers in the health service. Has the Minister been informed of any ongoing actions and what information does she have from her meeting with IMPACT as to what is likely to happen in the coming weeks?
To clarify, I have not met with any of the unions. The industrial relations activity that is under way is part of a broader campaign across the public sector the response to which is being led and managed by the Minister for Finance and the Taoiseach. To clarify another point, the Government did not pull out of talks with the unions. Unfortunately, we failed to reach agreement within those talks, and I am eager to see them resume as quickly as possible. In every dispute between Government and its employees or the employees of others, it is incumbent upon us to find a resolution. From the perspective of the health service, and patient safety in particular, I would like to see a resumption of the talks as soon as possible.
In areas where it was anticipated that there could be a negative impact on patient safety, where management has engaged at local level with the relevant unions that threat has not materialised. Radiotherapy services in Cork are an example of that. To the best of my knowledge I do not have information that would suggest there have been any adverse effects on any patient services, except that there is a difficulty in giving information to those who require it, including Members of the Oireachtas. It is difficult to operate and manage an organisation as large as the health service without appropriate information on a daily and weekly basis.
In regard to information to the Oireachtas, is it not the Minister's responsibility to ensure parliamentary questions are answered irrespective of actions by trade unions?
Yes, but I must be able to access the information in order to respond accurately to Members. Neither I nor my colleagues have all the information in our heads. In recent weeks, and in preparation for today in particular, we pulled out all the stops to obtain information. In the current unusual situation even very senior people are involved in the industrial action. In order to provide up-to-date information to the Oireachtas, data must be obtained on a real-time basis. It was not possible to do that in the case of many of the questions we are discussing today, but we have done our best. What we are experiencing is not different from what is happening in other Departments.
