Nurses to ballot for industrial action ‘in coming weeks’
Seamus Enright
Providing the Executive Council at nursing union, Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) give the go-ahead, members working at Cavan General Hospital could be balloted for the possibility of industrial action as soon as next month.
The move follows a series of meetings held between union reps and senior hospital management in recent weeks, where concerns were expressed in relation to staff-shortages in various areas of the hospital, including the Emergency Departments, Surgical and Medical.
Members voted overwhelmingly in favour of seeking permission to ballot for industrial action at the hospital, and INMO chiefs say if low-morale and an ever-increasing workload continues, it will have a serious adverse affect on the level of patient care delivered locally.
Regional representative for the INMO in Cavan/Monaghan, Tony Fitzpatrick has now submitted that request and is expecting a response “in the coming weeks”.
“The members voted in response to the level of short staffing being felt in Cavan, mainly in the Emergency Departments, Surgical 1 and 2, and Medical 1 and 2. But there are concerns from elsewhere in the hospital too and we’ve written to management advising them of that.
“Our concerns are in relation to the well-being of our members, and we’ve highlighted to management that they have obligations to deal with this under the Health and Safety, and Welfare in Work Act to ensure a safe place of work for our members.”
Mr Fitzpatrick says members have reported becoming unwell as a direct result of the increased workload being placed on them. “They’re saying on their off-days, their down-time, they’re anxious about returning to work. That’s not right, that’s a serious situation.
“It’s very simple. If you reduce the number of nurses working with a cohort of patients it will of course negatively impact on the level of care being delivered. It means the patient might not get their medicines on time, that there’s an increased risk of falls, or an increased risk of post-op infection. All of these are problems, and the staff are saying at Cavan General Hospital that this is the reality of the current environment because they don’t have enough staff,” Mr Fitzpatrick said.