ARRANGEMENTS TO reduce the working week for around half of all nurses in the Republic should be in place shortly, senior health service management sources have said.
But problems remain in reaching agreements to introduce a shorter week in a number of areas including care for the elderly, mental health and in locations where staff are providing one-to-one care.
Under a deal which ended a seven-week campaign of industrial action last year, the working week for nurses was to be reduced to 37.5 hours, on condition that this could be achieved on a cost-neutral basis, without impacting on patient care.
As part of a complex validation process, an independent verification group was established to assess whether local arrangements reached between management and unions in hospitals and community areas met these criteria.
The National Implementation Body - the main troubleshooting mechanism under social partnership which brokered the original agreement - was told at the weekend that the independent verification group had now signed off on arrangements covering 14,500 nurses.
However, informed sources said that it was expected that agreements covering a further 3,500 nurses would be approved by the group within the next week or so. Management sources said this would mean that the shorter working week would be implemented for around half of all nurses in the Republic.
But sources said that further work was likely to have to be carried out in remaining areas of difficulty such as mental health, care for the elderly and in cases where only single nurses were providing specific services.
If agreement is not reached to cover the remaining 50 per cent of nurses, a two-tier system would come into operation, with some staff working a shorter working week while receiving the same level of pay.
Nursing unions have argued that the shorter working week should come into effect for all. The Irish Nurses Organisation has contended that the ground rules have changed since the deal was brokered, in that there are fewer staff in the health service as a result of cost-cutting recruitment restrictions introduced by the HSE last autumn.
The union has maintained that the cutbacks prevented local agreements being reached on reducing the working hours in some areas.
In a statement last month, the National Implementation Body said that it was disappointed at the failure of the parties to reach nationwide agreement on reducing the working week for nurses by the original deadline of June 1st. It agreed with proposals put forward by management and unions to use money currently spent in hospitals and community services on hiring agency nurses or on overtime to create more whole-time positions, so as to facilitate the introduction of a shorter working week.
It said that this move would be acceptable, subject to the current budget of the HSE and the overall ceiling on staff numbers not being exceeded.
In regard to achieving change on a cost-neutral basis, the National Implementation Body urged the parties to consider the possibility of offsetting costs in one area against savings in another.