The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) is demanding that an out-of-hours GP service complies with a Labour Court recommendation and returns laid-off practice nurses to the payroll.
Westdoc provides the service, available to 180,000 people in the Galway, Mayo and Roscommon areas. The dispute between it and the INMO arises from Westdoc laying off about 15 practice nurses in March after the INMO’s insurer withdrew cover for the nurses concerned, and the union is unable to get cover elsewhere at a reasonable cost.
Claire Treacy, the INMO’s industrial relations officer, yesterday called on Westdoc to return the nurses to the payroll. The two sides held discussions last week and Ms Treacy said the INMO was expecting a response from Westdoc tomorrow.
Ms Treacy said that providing cover for the part-time practice nurses was expensive, with quotes above €2,000 a year per nurse.
The INMO is also seeking compensation for the nurses’ loss of earnings since they were laid off. The Labour Court says it accepts that there is no reality in the suggestion that nurses associated with the dispute should provide their own professional liability insurance “and it is equally unreal to imagine that the employer could cover the cost of this insurance”.
The court also states that there are only two viable options available to Westdoc: It could decide that it no longer intends to use the services of the practice nurses and deal with the consequences, or it must accept that the nurses cannot obtain independent insurance and allow them to continue work.This would involve Westdoc agreeing to delete the clause in the nurses’ contracts requiring them to provide insurance. The court is not recommending the concession of the INMO’s claims for retrospective compensation, but has stated that the nurses should be returned to the payroll while talks continue on the two options.
