Connacht Tribune
Portiuncula Hospital’s big spend on agency staff
The cost of hiring agency staff at Portiuncula reached “crazy” levels with €28 million spent over the past five years.
And the bill for hiring temporary workers for the Ballinasloe hospital has increased eightfold since 2009.
Last year, the hospital spent €5.8 million on agency staff. That compares with just over half a million in 2009.
Mr James Keane, general manager of Portiuncula, confirmed the figures in response to a parliamentary question submitted by Sinn Féin.
He outlined that the hospital spent over €2.4 million on agency staff in 2013; and that jumped to €6.7 million in 2014.
The following year Portiuncula recorded its highest ever spend on agency staff with an agency bill north of €6.8 million.
It was reduced to just over €6.2 million in 2016 and had fallen again to €5.8 million last year.
Claire Kerrane, SF general election candidate in Galway/Roscommon, said Portiuncula was spending huge sums on agency staff, which was a direct result of what happens when the hospital cannot recruit and retain staff. The figures, she said, were “shocking”.
“How many full-time nurses and carers and doctors could you hire for the amount they have spent on agency staff,” she asked.
The Castlerea-based candidate said Ireland was producing some of the most highly trained nurses in the World but the figures for spending on agency staff was proof of the ‘brain drain’ hitting the public health service.
“We have the best nurses, highly trained, and they are working in healthcare; it’s just that they are working in England and Canada and Australia. We need to be attracting nurses and health care professionals to stay at home,” she said.
Ms Kerrane acknowledged some agency staff was essential in order to keep a service going but Portiuncula spending in excess of €6 million each year for three years on temporary staff was “enormous” and “crazy”. She said it was indicative of a crisis in recruitment and retention of nurses.
At the same time, Portiuncula has been praised for its hospital infection prevention and control programme. However, HIQA (Health Information and Quality Authority) said that during any planned new hospital build, the Ballinasloe hospital would have to be “supported in their endeavours in relation to the infection prevention and control programme”.
Following an unannounced inspection of the hospital in February, which included the Intensive Care and Coronary Care Unit and a surgical ward, HIQA issued its findings this week.
“The hospital had a structured antimicrobial stewardship programme in place and notwithstanding that reported rates of Clostridium difficile infection were periodically above the national target set by the HSE, there had been no outbreak of infection at the hospital in the preceding twelve-month period,” the HIQA report said.
It noted that the hospital achieved 91% compliance with hand hygiene compliance in October 2017 which shows commitment by staff to meet national hand hygiene targets. At the time of the inspection 84% of hospital staff had attended hand hygiene training in the previous two-year period.
“The hospital management team needs to regularly review the uptake of infection prevention and control training to ensure any gaps in the uptake of training is addressed,” it said.
However, HIQA found that overall the patient environment inspected was “generally clean with few exceptions and there was good ownership in relation to environmental cleaning in the areas inspected”.
There was also scope for improvement in relation to the management of patient equipment hygiene, according to inspectors.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
