The continued underfunding of hospital and mental health services has led to a ‘major crisis' in Ireland's healthcare system, consultants have insisted.

According to the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA), without sufficient funding, consultants ‘simply do not have the resources to provide high quality safe services'.

"Make no mistake about it - Ireland's acute health services will not be capable of delivering high quality safe care to patients unless substantially increased resources are provided without further delay," commented IHCA president, Dr Gerard Crotty.

Launching its pre-budget submission, the IHCA insisted that if health services have to cut spending to stay within ‘unrealistic' annual budget limits, this will lead to ‘extremely adverse consequences which jeopardise the safety and quality of care that can be provided to patients'.

"The Minister for Health has acknowledged that the lack of funding and capacity is causing serious problems. It is time to properly address the crisis once and for all. While we understand that other government departments will be seeking additional funds, surely the delivery of timely, high quality safe care to patients needs to be prioritised," Dr Crotty said.

The pre-budget submission calls for increased frontline resources, as well as increased bed and theatre capacity. It is also calling for a reversal of the 2012 salary cut, which sees new entrant consultants earning 30% less than their colleagues. This move is essential for recruitment and retention purposes, the IHCA said.

"In recent weeks, there were headlines when a number of 100-year-old patients spent over 24 hours on trolleys while awaiting admission for essential and urgent inpatient treatment. There are significantly more patients awaiting care today than this time last year. As we approach the 1916 Centenary, is this the best that we can do after 100 years?" asked Dr Crotty.