A work to rule by nurses at University Hospital Limerick’s Intensive Care Unit has been suspended after an agreement was reached between the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation and hospital management on a number of temporary staffing measures.
The action, which had been announced last week, has been suspended to facilitate a ballot of the staff involved on the proposals which were agreed after talks facilitated by the Workplace Relations Commission.
“The agreement reached is a temporary one to address the staffing shortfalls that is impacting both patient and staff safety in the ICU,” said INMO Assistant Director of Relations, Mary Fogarty.
“Measures included in the agreement include a commitment to ensure that at least sixteen nurses will be rostered in for both day and night duty for the twelve bed ward, nurses who work in the ICU will be facilitated to take their annual leave and assurances have been made that additional ICU nurses will be on site in June and July to bolster the current staffing complement.
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“Safe staffing in the ICU is of utmost importance to our members who have been under intolerable pressure while trying to provide excellent care to very sick patients,” she said.
