How many healthcare workers across Ireland have raised serious concerns about patient safety, staffing shortages, faulty equipment, inadequate facilities and health and safety risks, only to find that their warnings were not acted upon? The reported power failure at Connolly Hospital raises serious questions, particularly given claims that concerns about the electrical infrastructure had been raised for years. How many similar warnings are sitting in risk registers, incident reports, emails and correspondence to management across our health service? How many frontline healthcare workers feel they are not being listened to? We should not have to wait for a serious incident before concerns are taken seriously. The HSE and the Department of Health need to examine not only how risks are reported, but what happens after management receives those warnings. Healthcare workers who raise genuine concerns should be listened to, supported and protected — not ignored or penalised. Patient safety and staff safety must always come first