Nurses at the emergency department at the largest hospital in the mid-west are to stage a protest outside Government Buildings next Wednesday in the latest stage of their protest over over-crowding at the unit.
The nurses who are members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) and Siptu, have already held three work stoppages in the last fortnight as part of their campaign.
In a joint statement both unions said that on Wednesday they would deliver letters to Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Minister for Health James Reilly and the chief executive of the HSE Cathal Magee.
The unions said that this would be followed by a protest outside Government Buildings between 1 and 2pm to which TDs and Senators will be invited to support nurses in their campaign.
They said that an open invitation would be offered to all sitting Limerick TDs to meet with members, after the protest outside the Dáil, in Buswells hotel.
Dr Reilly said last night that he was very aware of the problems being experienced at the emergency department in the hospital and had contacted the HSE about introducing measures to deal with the issues.
“I have no issue with nurses expressing their concerns about safety issues at the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick. I have pointed out that we are acutely aware, having studied the problem, and are putting in place measures to deal with it. What I would be unhappy about and have been unhappy about is (nurses) taking industrial action and reducing their availability to their patients.”
The decision to hold the protest, which will take place in the nurses’ own time, was taken at a meeting today.
The nurses maintain that overcrowding at the emergency department in the Mid Western regional hospital is posing a threat to patient safety.
Talks at the Labour Relations Commission aimed at resolving the row ended unsuccessfully earlier this week.
The INMO and Siptu have blamed management intransigence for the impasse. However management has accused the unions of misrepresenting what took place during the talks.
The HSE has also argued that the unions would not agree to roster changes for staff in the hospital which could alleviate much of the pressure on the emergency department.
The unions said the HSE had refused to employ a nurse, or redeploy any nurse, on a 24/7 basis to the emergency department from any location in the Mid-West to immediately care for admitted patients on trolleys.
They also claimed management had refused to utilise some of the 100 day care beds within the hospital for emergency unit patients on a temporary basis pending full review and re-designation of some day care beds to inpatient services.
The HSE, the unions said, had also refused to discuss any element of the recommendations in relation to the emergency unit at the hospital drawn up by the Department of Health’s new special delivery unit.
Those recommendations were presented to unions on Wednesday. The unions maintained that management had argued these required clarifications.
Management, they added, had only offered to redeploy one nurse from the hospital’s outpatient department to the emergency unit from 10am to 4pm on a Monday to Friday basis.
In a statement last night, the HSE in the Mid-West described the INMO/Siptu statement on the LRC talks as “most unhelpful, clearly targeted and gross misrepresentation of what actually occurred”.
It said this was a most regrettable development.
“We have what we have and must use that to meet our priorities; there is no more than the 700 nurses already in Dooradoyle.
“We are still being prevented from a real review and change of rosters which could solve a lot of the pressures,” the HSE added.
Speaking today, INMO Industrial Relations Officer, Mary Fogarty said:
“The anger and frustration of our members over the continued overcrowding in the Mid Western Regional Hospital and apparent lack of interest by the HSE to resolve the issues, continues unabated. It is impossible to comprehend how the recommendations of the special delivery unit, specifically set up by the Minister for Health to sort out the crisis in our emergency departments, are being ignored by management. The HSE has dismissed calls from the INMO and SIPTU to re-deploy nurses from the region into the hospital while the crisis continues, or to open closed beds and are refusing to enter further discussions.”
Siptu sector organiser, Louise O’Reilly said: “It was clear at today’s meeting that our members now believe that local management is either unwilling or incapable of resolving this dispute and it is necessary to bring this directly to the doors of the Minister and those who can bring about a resolution.”