Nurses in Cavan are seeking the introduction of a "whistle-blower" policy for themselves and other members of their profession. Eithne Donnellan, Health Correspondent, reports.
Such a policy would enable them to report practices in their hospital or other working environment which they felt was of concern, without having any fear of retribution.
The proposal will be discussed at the annual conference of the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) later this week.
It comes just weeks after the Medical Council, in its latest ethical guidelines for doctors, said doctors were obliged to engage in whistle-blowing if they had concerns about the conduct of other doctors.
The council said that if a patient came to harm while a doctor hesitated to act in relation to a colleague, he or she could be dealt with critically.
Ms Patsy Doyle, INO industrial relations officer for the north-east region, said nurses must feel safe to report to management concerns they have about the way colleagues are treating patients. A whistle-blowing policy, as sought by the Cavan branch of the INO, would empower nurses to come forward and report incidents, she said.
"Cavan being Cavan at the moment, everybody is reflecting on it and wondering should people have done something sooner," she added, referring to the ongoing controversy over several adverse critical incidents at Cavan General Hospital and the suspension last August of two of its three permanent consultant surgeons over interpersonal difficulties.
The nurses are seeking the introduction of the policy by agreement with all employers, she said. A wide range of other issues are also due for discussion at the INO conference in Killarney on Thursday and Friday. One motion for debate states that no private health insurance payment should be made when a public bed is used to treat a private patient.
Others call for a rejection of the Hanly report proposal that A&E units in smaller hospitals be replaced with minor injury units with limited opening hours, and for special measures to be introduced to combat nursing shortages. These would include the introduction of a special allowance for Dublin-based nurses and the payment of a loyalty bonus to staff who remain in the system for three years after qualification.
The conference will debate a motion calling for a withdrawal from Sustaining Progress over the Government's failure to resolve the ongoing crisis in A&E departments.