Fewer public health nurses now

[Posted: Tue 06/06/2006 - www.irishhealth.com]

The number of public health nurses in Dublin has fallen in recent years, despite an increase in births and a growing elderly population, figures from the Health Service Executive (HSE) have shown.

Public health nurses provide a range of services in the community, including postnatal care, care of the elderly and care of people with disabilities. However the figures show that the overall number of these nurses in Dublin has fallen from 693 in 2001 to 686 in 2005.

According to Fine Gael Senator, Brian Hayes, in the same period, the number of births increased by 700, while the elderly population jumped by 7,000.

"This means that in relation to care of the elderly, while there was one public health nurse for every 164 elderly people in 2001, now there is one public health nurse for every 177 elderly people. Despite being expected to provide a range of services, these nurses are spread very thinly over an ever increasing and ageing population", Senator Hayes said.

As a result of this, many patients are being denied vital health services 'because nurses cannot get to them', he commented.

"The Government has been telling us for the past nine years that it is committed to community care but judging from the figures released, it is failing in that commitment. It is also failing to keep pace with our changing population", Senator Hayes added.