A consistent failure to properly fund and resource the health system has left it at a “critical juncture” and facing a number of persistent and worsening crises in medical staffing, bed capacity and infrastructure, the Irish Medical Organisation has warned in its pre-Budget submission.

The IMO launched its pre-Budget submission in Dublin recently, and acknowledged that funding for the health system has never been greater. However, it said this funding is merely allowing the health system to "just stand still".

Health system funding has not been sufficient to adequately address the bed capacity and staffing levels needed to effectively meet the demands of a growing and ageing population, the IMO said, with ever more complex needs and to build a resilient health system for the future.

Selected key statistics from the IMO's pre-Budget submission:

• In the last decade our population has grown by 14.4% to 5.3 million in 2023, with 15.3% of the population now aged 65 or over
• There has been little or no increase in in-patient beds in the last 20 years
• Hospital waiting lists have almost tripled to over 896,000 in the decade between 2013 and 2023
• 20% of consultant posts are either unfilled or filled on a temporary/locum basis
• 83% of NCHDs routinely work more than 48 hours a week, leading to unsustainable levels of burnout and creating an unsafe working environment for doctors and patients
• Despite the major population increase, over the past decade there has been a net increase of just 136 GPs with GMS/DVC contracts.