Cork IBD services
Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan raises staffing pressures in Cork's IBD service, especially the shortage of clinical nurse specialists for more than 2,000 patients. The Taoiseach says the expanded health budget is intended to address such pressures and will seek a direct response from the Minister and HSE chief.
I will raise the issue of inflammatory bowel disease, IBD, services in Cork with the Taoiseach. Over the last few weeks, I have been liaising with the HSE on this issue but it is appropriate to raise it again here today. The IBD service at CUH is led by three consultant gastroenterologists and two academic consultants. One clinical nurse specialist provides support for more than 2,000 patients with IBD who attend that clinic. In 2023, the IBD service was supported by two clinical nurse specialists but, as one is on maternity leave, the responsibility and workload of three clinical nurse specialists and two advanced nurse practitioners have fallen on one clinical nurse specialist. In a reply to a parliamentary question, the chief executive of the HSE has stated that this decreased staffing is a direct result of the recruitment moratorium and that a risk report has been filed in this regard. I understand the need for the moratorium but, when an issue like this is affecting 2,000 people, there surely has to be some flexibility.
Comment on this
The entire reason the Government provided the HSE with a budget that allows it to expand staff numbers by 2,200 in the HSE and by more than 3,000 when disability services are factored in was to ensure that service delivery issues like this could be considered. I will certainly ask the Minister for Health and the CEO of the HSE to revert to the Deputy directly on the specific query he has raised.