Staff levels harming patient care, nurses warn '

STAFFING SHORTAGES in the health services have unacceptable consequences for patients and those working in the system, the annual conference of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has heard.

There was long applause after one representative described working both a day and a night shift simply because there was no one to take over from her.

Theresa Dixon of the union’s Kildare branch told the conference yesterday that patient care was being hit and staff were exhausted.

She said she was a clinical nurse manager in a four-bed intensive care unit with a facility to ventilate a fifth patient in recovery.

Over the years her unit had built up an excellent cohort of staff. In statistical terms it should have 24 whole-time equivalent personnel; however, she had 12 whole-time equivalents, two of whom were on sick leave.

In an address that drew a standing ovation from delegates, Ms Dixon said that last Monday she had worked a 16-hour day – from 7.45am to midnight – to cover a day and night shift, as there was no one to take over from her.

She said the unit had had policies of constant tending to patients, of turning and suctioning them. It had tried to minimise the complications for patients.

“Now we can’t even get to our patients to turn them. We are increasing their length of stay, we are increasing their morbidity, our medications are delayed and infection control issues are gone out the window.”

Ms Dixon said staff were exhausted and were consistently working more than 37.5 hours weekly.

“When on night duty we do not get any break. I am talking about having a cup of tea at the patient’s bedside and swallowing it and running.” She said this situation was “continuous and consistent”.

She said nursing management were doing their best. “We have advertised for posts, we even went to the stage where we interviewed for posts, we managed to get approval for posts but now there is a freeze put on the approval.

“Last night I had no intensive care unit staff on night duty, with two agency staff and one generalist nurse with four ventilated patients. I roared and screamed on Monday and eventually I went to the medical board and said ‘please help me’. I begged and pleaded for someone to come and help me.

“This is totally unacceptable for me and unacceptable for our patients.”

Union general secretary Liam Doran said patients around the country were being compromised because of what was happening.

The biggest fear in the union was that the Irish healthcare system was at the edge of the abyss. He said ingredients that were present in Mid-Staffordshire in the UK when there was a significant number of inappropriate deaths in hospitals there, were now in play in Ireland. These included disorganised management, ignoring of staff concerns, and targets and finances being given priority over anything else.

The conference also heard that a study being carried out by Dublin City University would show that nearly 70 per cent of nurses were unable to comfort and talk to patients due to time constraints.

Meanwhile, nurses also warned they would not accept cuts to allowances, premium pay or increments. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin is carrying out a review of allowances across the public service, which is due to be completed next month.

The union’s director of industrial relations Phil Ní Sheaghdha said the Minister had sought to distinguish between core and non-core pay. She said this was not part of the Croke Park agreement to which the union had signed up.

She said the protections of Croke Park covered pay including allowances, premium pay and increments.

She said allowances and other payments were hard won and the union would not sit idly by and allow language differentiating between core and non-core pay to be introduced.

She said if the Government did not uphold its side of the Croke Park bargain “it could well be the straw that broke the camel’s back”.