SIPTU representatives have today (Monday, 30th April) demanded an immediate halt to the privatisation of critical health services and called on the Government to ensure that the outsourcing clause of the Public Service Stability Agreement (PSSA) is honoured to the letter. SIPTU Health Division Organiser, Paul Bell, said: “The unfolding tragedy of the CervicalCheck scandal shines a bright light on the real human cost of outsourcing. Shareholders and profits are being prioritised over patients and lives. There seems to be no control or accountability, until it’s too late. It’s unacceptable.” “SIPTU representatives have always opposed outsourcing, not just because it is in breach of public service agreements and removes decent directly employed workers from the health service but also because of the concerns of our members surrounding the governance and oversight offered to the service user.” “Many members of the public would be unaware and quite possibly horrified that their medical records are being analysed thousands of miles away on an industrial scale for profit. These services must be provided by the State and not offshored.” Bell added: “The restoration of public confidence in our national cervical cancer screening programme is vital but there are also lessons to be learned across the public service. Right now, our members in the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital are preparing for strike action in protest at management proposals to outsource the Central Sterile Services Department (CSSD). “There is a familiar ring to the arguments being put forward now, albeit belatedly, by the Government. The same arguments are being made by our members in the Mater. That outsourcing serves the interests of profits not patients. Our members also believe that the proposal flies in the face of the terms of the PSSA by not using direct labour to the greatest possible extent to deliver public services.”
SIPTU representatives demand an immediate halt to the privatisation of critical health services
