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Liam Doran Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland

INMO and HSE at odds over whether additional savings of €80m are being sought

The INMO says the savings are being sought – the HSE says this is incorrect.

THE IRISH NURSES and Midwives Organisation (INMO) is seeking urgent meetings with Ministers and the HSE over the latest HSE plans under the Haddington Road Agreement (HRA).

The INMO believes that the latest management proposal will “seriously compromise patient safety” if it is implemented, and so wants it withdrawn.

It said:

The HSE, while acknowledging that the INMO, and other health service unions, are fully compliant with their obligations under the Haddington Road Agreement, has now brought forward a new set of measures required to deliver further cash savings of €80 million.

HSE’s response

In response, the HSE said it is “simply seeking to implement the terms of the Haddington Road Agreement which the INMO signed up to”.

The HSE said “it is not correct to say that the HSE ‘is seeking an additional €80m’”, and that it is in fact seeking to achieve the original target set for it of €290m.

“This money has already been removed from the HSE’s vote allocation,” it said, adding:

The HSE requires the extra hours identified under the agreement to be used in the first instance to reduce the health sector pay bill as per the intention of the agreement. The HSE is extremely cognisant of the importance of patient safety and considers it a priority above all else.

Concerns

The INMO said that the latest proposals, which were presented to unions last week, are all focused on the frontline and include:

  • A further reduction in staffing
  • Reduction in the skill mix
  • Filling nursing vacancies, in the community, with newly graduated nurses. “This is contrary to best practice,” says the INMO
  • Reduction in the number of operational nurse managers in the care of the older person sector
  • Substitution of experienced/trained support staff, in other sectors, with new staff under the support staff intern programme.

The INMO described the latest plan as “the most damaging set of measures brought forward in recent years”. In response, it has sought immediate meetings with the three Ministers in the Department of Health to demand the plans be withdrawn.

It is also seeking a meeting with the Oireachtas Health Committee to detail its concerns at the impact of these measures on patient safety, and a meeting with the Director of Patient Safety and Quality in the HSE.

In addition, the INMO will be seeking discussions with patient support groups and other professional groups/representatives on the plan.

The INMO will also be advising all of its members “that they are fully compliant with their obligations under Haddington Road”.

We shall also advise them that they cannot agree, under their Code of Conduct, to any changes/initiatives which they believe will negatively impact upon patient care and safety and the ability of nurses and midwives to deliver safe care through safe practice.

Cash savings

INMO General Secretary Liam Doran said that these proposals are “totally driven by the demand for the health service to deliver further cash savings”.

He said they have not been subject to a patient safety audit or risk assessment and “there is no question” but that these measures will “gravely compromise patient safety and the ability of nurses and midwives to deliver safe care through safe practice”.

Read: Nurse to patient ratio is becoming unsafe says INMO>

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34 Comments
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    Mute NokiaNewsIreland
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    Feb 4th 2014, 3:16 PM

    Hopefully this guy will give MS the kick it needs.

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    Mute Butter bean
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    Feb 4th 2014, 3:02 PM

    This guy is just what Microsoft needed a young forward thinking dynamic guy.

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    Mute Foxys Bicycle
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    Feb 4th 2014, 4:37 PM

    Best of luck to him

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    Mute The whistler
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    Feb 4th 2014, 3:18 PM

    Could it be that microsoft are actually going separate their entertainment products from their core services?

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    Mute Butter bean
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    Feb 4th 2014, 4:01 PM

    Steve jobs’s non union affiliated indian counterpart

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    Mute Hank Schrader
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    Feb 4th 2014, 8:06 PM

    @Miller.. That’s a serious chip your carrying! Microsoft have been fantastic for this country. They have been a large employer for near 30 years, and have stuck with Ireland through everything. Whether full time, contract, part time etc they are all decent paying jobs. They have invested massively back into the community and the education sector. Of all the large US employers in Ireland there ain’t many bad words can be said about Microsoft. BTW.. Don’t work there, but have made a very good career around the products they produce.

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    Mute Miller
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    Feb 4th 2014, 6:06 PM

    New packaging, same turd underneath. MS has a toxic culture, treats its fulltime staff like sh$t, and generally gets rid of older workers and replaces them with ‘cheap’ new ones under the guise of ‘we’re hiring’. MS Ireland transacts revenue of circa 30 billion but more than half the staff to process this are contract/temporary staff given low wages through a 3rd party and have no health, life, pension of any other benefit for helping to make the executives rich and pay little effective tax in Ireland through phoney royalty and licience agreements with zero tax states

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    Mute D1
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    Feb 5th 2014, 12:27 AM

    @Miller. In the ESB article thread you castigate Brendan Ogle for standing up to government and fighting for his members. Here you rant on about working conditions in MS. Make your mind up man.

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    Mute Daniel D Waters
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    Feb 4th 2014, 3:58 PM

    Looks like Steve Jobs to me

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    Mute Cpm
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    Feb 4th 2014, 6:59 PM

    He’s a bit too lively

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    Mute Butter bean
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    Feb 4th 2014, 3:58 PM

    I think they are going to entwine their products closer than ever.

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    Mute ipsum oleum
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    Feb 4th 2014, 3:58 PM

    Has Mandela risen from the crypt?

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    Mute Cpm
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    Feb 4th 2014, 7:00 PM

    Standards compliance needs to be their first stop

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