Planned strike by nurses sparks fear for patient safety
NURSES across the country are to go on strike next month because of hospital overcrowding – raising fears that patient safety could be put at risk.
Stephen McMahon of the Irish Patients Association said while the frustration of frontline workers is understandable, it would be unfortunate if patients were to suffer in a campaign designed to improve their lot.
‘I am very aware of the [Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation’s] commitment to patient safety and care, but I would
Worry ‘over use of nuclear option’
worry about their use of a nuclear option,’ he said.
‘You need 110% of your attention to be on providing quality care, and any distraction of that can put patients at risk.’
He added: ‘We are living in very uncertain times at the moment and therefore we need to ensure that all of the available resources are there to respond in a very timely way.’
Nurses will go on strike for two hours at a time at selected hospitals from December 15, in what the INMO has called ‘rolling and simultaneous action’.
First affected will be the Beaumont and Tallaght hospitals in Dublin, Cavan General Hospital, the Mercy University Hospital in Cork, University Hospital Galway, the Midland Regional Hospital in Tullamore, Co. Offaly, and University Hospital Waterford.
Strikes will take place in other as-yet-unnamed hospitals in the New Year and the INMO has warned that all hospitals in the country will eventually see some strike action. Emergency response teams will remain on duty in each of the hospitals and the INMO has pledged to engage with hospital managers to draw up contingency plans.
The effect will be that each hospital will have to go ‘off-call’, forcing the HSE to divert ambulances to other hospitals for the duration of the strike.
No more than one hospital in each HSE region will be affected at a time, allowing managers to spread the burden across other hospitals in each area.
The INMO said yesterday that it was taking action in protest at ‘continuing overcrowding, inadequate staffing levels and the ongoing compromising of patient care’.
It wants at least 200 permanent emergency nurses to be recruited, with an additional 100 to care for patients on trolleys.
The Department of Health yesterday accused the INMO of spin, and said the timing of the strikes so close to an election was ‘no coincidence’. And a spokesman for the Taoiseach said ‘industrial action won’t get a single patient off a trolley’.
‘While there is a long way to go, there are 20% fewer people on trolleys than on this day last year,’ the spokesman said.
The HSE told the Irish Daily Mail it will be seeking the intervention of the Workplace Relations Commission ‘as soon as possible’ to avoid industrial action taking place.
INMO General Secretary Liam Doran said his organisation is willing to sit down for talks with the HSE, but as of last night the WRC said it had not organised any such discussions.
The Workplace Relations Commission told the Irish Daily Mail it is available to assist the parties but did not confirm talks had been scheduled.
‘Timing is no coincidence’
NOBODY, least of all this newspaper, questions the enormous contribution nurses make to society.
Of all frontline staff in the health service, they are the ones who face the greatest daily pressure and who work under the most stressful conditions. Their tireless dedication is an example to us all.
It is, of course, completely understandable that they are at the end of their tether over the scandal of patients on hospital trolleys for hours on end.
The frustration, concern and anguish they feel is shared by people right across the country and, it hardly needs to be said, by this newspaper. Indeed, the Mail has been at the forefront of highlighting some of the very worst cases, particularly those involving elderly patients.
One conclusion to be drawn from the overwhelming vote for strike is that nurses believe the situation has been so bad for so long that they have no choice but to threaten the nuclear option.
Yet the danger there is that it can easily lead to all-out war. If a solution isn’t found immediately to a problem that has been unsolved over many years, the nurses may find themselves being boxed in to escalating their protest. God only knows what would happen then. There is a real likelihood the system would end up in a state of paralysis, which is the opposite of what the nurses want. And elderly people and patients with long-term conditions will be terrified of falling ill over the coming weeks.
Much as our sympathies lie with the nurses, the unvarnished truth is that a strike isn’t the solution. This is ultimately a political problem and, as always, the best course is to seek a political solution. It is only a few months until the country goes to the polls. The nurses have it in their power to put the trolleys scandal right at the top of the election agenda.
That is the most effective way to bring about change in a democracy. You either shame the sitting administration into action or you vote them out of office.
Industrial action involves too much risk of some terrible tragedy happening during the strike. And that would be in nobody’s interest, least of all the nurses.