Labour Youth to protest against healthcare recruitment freeze

Issued : Tuesday 15 April, 2008

Students and members of Labour Youth will hold a demonstration tomorrow outside the Department of Health to protest against cutbacks in essential front line staff. The recruitment ban was brought in by the government in September, and although they promised at the time that it would be lifted by the end of the year, they broke that promise.

The Employment Control Framework introduced in January has resulted in posts left empty under the recruitment ban not being filled. This has institutionalised cutbacks in Accident and Emergency and in a number of services, exacerbating hospital waiting lists.

Enda Duffy Labour Youth Chair said: "The continued cutbacks in the public healthcare system is a deliberate attempt by the government to destroy public health care and facilitate privatisation. On the one hand the government is effectively funding the construction of private hospitals on public land through lucrative tax breaks - on the other hand they are refusing to fill essential frontline posts. They are starving the public healthcare system of essential staff causing overcrowding in A&E and increases in waiting lists, while throwing away millions of potential tax revenue to facilitate the private sector.

"Vacant posts must be filled immediately as a first step towards ending our hospital waiting lists. The recruitment freeze has hit services from cancer care to suicide prevention and must be ended now."