Newspapers are now frequently featuring articles regarding the desperate plight of our healthcare and hospital services due to understaffing and poor working conditions. Even now, however, neither politicians nor healthcare authorities will say if they have seen the light and are now rehiring staff who were mandated out of their jobs over Covid issues.
If they are now, or have been hiring from that source asset, then well and good, but tell us about it — it should not be a state secret.
If the authorities are still being intransigent and refusing to hire mandated staff, then they should at least openly admit the fact, and thus give the public at large the opportunity to mourn the lack of practical intellect and social fairness in the decision-making of certain sections of government and the public service.
In the light of recent events, the need for clear, socially sensitive decisions to be made has never been greater.
Dennis Pennefather
