The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has described the HSE’s Winter Plan as “inadequate”.

The €77 million plan was launched with little fanfare on the evening of November 15. It includes the provision of more hospital beds and extra private hospital capacity to deal with the surge in demand for hospital services, as well as additional home support hours and community diagnostics.

However, according to IMO president, Dr Ina Kelly, the plan was launched “at a time when we only have 21 ICU beds available in the country and every doctor and healthcare worker is working beyond capacity”.

She said that it is “untenable” that these staff are now being asked to face into a winter “with insufficient support”.

“Covid has exposed the long-term cost of failing to invest in our health services. Our only response now seems to be to try to force more work out of our exhausted doctors,” Dr Kelly noted.

She pointed out that currently, there are 700 vacant consultant posts, which is placing huge pressure on the consultants that are working here.

“We also have NCHDs working excessive and illegal hours, putting them under enormous strain, and we have GP services facing unprecedented demand from patients. The capacity is simply not there to meet demand and it is not all Covid related,” she warned.

She insisted that the “root causes” of the Irish health crisis are bed numbers and manpower.

“The Winter Plan is like a sticking plaster used to cover a gaping wound. Our health services remain crippled by a lack of bed capacity on the one hand and a lack of doctors and other healthcare professionals on the other. Until we fix these two problems, we will forever be trying to prevent a crisis from becoming a catastrophe,” Dr Kelly said.

She added that waiting lists will exceed one million in the coming months, which she described as a “sad reflection of failed healthcare policies over the past decade”.

Meanwhile the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has said that it will be seeking an urgent meeting with the CEO and senior officials of the HSE “with regard to implementing this plan”.

“The plan has been published in the backdrop of an incredibly difficult period for our health service. The number of people on trolleys is increasing, Covid cases and hospitalisations are on the rise and nearly one million people are on waiting lists.

“We need urgent action to use all available bed capacity in private hospitals to divert appropriate care from our acute hospitals. Our acute hospitals are not just full, they are overcrowded, so surge capacity from the private sector to alleviate the pressure in hospitals across the country is imperative,” commented INMO deputy general secretary designate, Edward Mathews.