'They are not listening to us'

“We have to do something. They are not willing to close beds, they are not willing to give us extra staff. They won’t offer us extra carers. We have been asking since the start of the summer. They are not listening to us.”

Roisin Lynch was one of around a hundred nurses who claimed they had no option but to mount a lunchtime protest at the gates of Cavan General Hospital yesterday (Tuesday) as their concerns over staffing shortages have fallen on deaf ears. The protest was oragnised by members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) who insist that staffing shortfalls are undermining patient care and affecting the health, safety and well-being of nursing and midwifery staff.
Outlining the situation on the wards, Nurse Lynch said: “We have four nurses in the evening to look after 32 patients, most of whom are totally dependant. Our nurse to patient ratio is very high, it is one nurse to eight or 12 patients. You cannot give adequate patient care, it is unsafe for the patient and it is unsafe for the nurses. Our registration is on the line, management are aware of that, they say that are not able to help.”
INMO reps met with management at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) in the Cavan Crystal Hotel last Thursday, December 8, in an attempt to address concerns. “Despite management being well aware of the difficulties, they made no cogent proposals to address the issues and, instead, sought more time to consider their response. The INMO cannot allow a situation to continue where patient safety and staff well-being are put at risk,” said the INMO’s industrial relations officer, Tony Fitzpatrick.

Of the meeting, Surgical 2 nurse Nancy Gaffney, a SIPTU representative, claimed: “They offered us nothing. They keep asking for time. Time has run out.”
She continued: “A lot of the patients that we have on the ward [Surgical 2] are quite dependent and we don’t seem to be able to give them the level of care that they require.”
A further meeting is scheduled with the Work Relations Commission for next Tuesday, December 20, 2016. But Mr Fitpatrick said that if management does not come to the table with meaningful proposals that the INMO will be escalating its action.
“We have balloted our members, so we would be looking at a work to rule or a work stoppage or something along those lines,” he said.