€40 million spent on agency staff in University Hospital Limerick provokes outrage

€40 million spent on agency staff in University Hospital Limerick provokes outrage. Maurice Quinlivan TD says “this is a damming indictment of the Government’s shambolic health policy and its indifference to universal public health provision. The reliance on agency staff has increased due to the mismanagement of hospitals across the country by the HSE and the Government, and the failure to attract Irish graduates to the health system here, who are being lost to well-run health systems abroad. It also illustrates the ongoing privatization of the health service and the erosion of working conditions for medical professionals committed to working in the public sector. The enormity of this spend on agency staff at University Hospital Limerick can be contrasted with the pitiful investment in alleviating chronic overcrowding in our hospitals.”