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Naas nurses to ballot on industrial action

Nurses in Naas General Hospital say the conditions are “unsafe” and they are “exasperated” with the situation.

NURSES AT NAAS General Hospital are to ballot for industrial action because of what they term the “unsafe conditions” there.

Twenty four beds remain closed off in the hospital, along with a medical assessment unit.

Derek Reilly, industrial relations officer with the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation claimed that hospital management has placed patients on trolleys throughout the hospital in an effort to ‘play down’ the figures in the emergency department.

These patients do not have access to oxygen and other vital equipment, and crucially, the hospital is chronically understaffed. These patients are not in a safe environment.

He added that nursing staff are “exasperated” with the situation and that they have complied with HSE initiatives to alleviate overcrowding but have “not received cooperation from consultants and management at the hospital”.

He said:

We have no choice but to take action to highlight our concerns with regard to patient safety and the terrible working conditions our members have to endure.

Balloting will take place next week.

TheJournal.ie put the above comments to the HSE, but a spokesperson said it will not be commenting while a ballot is in process.

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5 Comments
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    Mute Mark Phillips
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    Jul 8th 2011, 3:57 PM

    I know cutbacks are needed, but the situation with nurses is just BS. Nurses do unbelievable work for relatively little pay. There are plenty of recent grauduates who will make great nurses going to other countries. I know from my own family’s experiences that Naas is severly understaffed when it comes to nurses.

    Just hire nurses and get over it, HSE. Stop replacing middle management guys or aministrative workers instead and leave the frontline staff alone – one of the few public servants who really do earn their money :/

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    Mute Dermot D
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    Jul 8th 2011, 5:57 PM

    Mark, I agree with your sentiments that many nurses do great work. However, you say they do the jobs for relatively little pay. Relative to what? If you know nurses that have gone to other countries because they can’t get work here, you will know that Irish nurses are extremely well paid compared to nurses in other countries. Having said this, the gap between consultant pay and nursing pay is extremely large in this country compared to others, so maybe this is what you’re referring to?

    Also, you say we “need to leave the frontline staff alone” – unfortunately there seems to be a view in this country that all the nurses and doctors out there are working hard and there’s all these mysterious people in the background just sitting around all day doing nothing, wasting budgets. That is not true. Yes there are administrative staff and management that are lazy and inefficient. But I have no doubt, there are also some really hard working dedicated staff in the background in the HSE that are attempting to make changes in very difficult cirumstances. Likewise, there are some great nurses that are doing a great job, but from my personal experience I can tell you there are also some horrible nurses who are rude to patients, who oppose any sort of reform and who are downright incompetent.

    As much as you might like to leave frontline staff alone, how about we do the following instead -

    - We get medical staff to accept that people get sick 24/7 and we get them to work hours that are in the best interests of patient care, and not based around convenience for the staff.

    - We bring more accountability to the profession. As far as I can tell, currently for a nurse to be sacked, he/she would practically have to kill a patient. And even then, he/she would probably still keep his/her pension. If instead, we made it easier for public sector workers to be sacked and disciplined in the same way private sector workers are for incompetence and persistent inefficiency, then we may bring about a better work ethic and it may be possible to get rid of the deadwood and bring some of those nursing graduates back home to work here.

    - We promote workers in the public sector (including nurses) on the basis of achievement and results, as opposed to length of service. This would create an incentive to change work practices and be more efficient.

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    Mute Randy savage
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    Jul 8th 2011, 8:30 PM

    God Dermot you really havent a clue. As someone that works in the Emergency services NOT A Nurse, i regularly see the work they do in A+Es without breaks most of the time. The care dedication and tenderness they offer to patients in spite of the little regard their held by many is unbelievable. It never ceases to amaze me how much patience they have. As a person who has unfortunately had to be at the receiving end of their care due to work related injuries i have to say they are exceptional and it is people like you who really really make me so so angry. I could smash the laptop when i read the tripe written by the likes of you. I hope you never need them but if you do they will still treat you well regardless of your small mindedness….. Peace

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    Mute TP
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    Jul 8th 2011, 9:22 PM

    You dont like it because the truth hurts. Well said Dermot.

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    Mute jackass ireland
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    Jul 8th 2011, 11:27 PM

    I don’t see any lube on them gloves. Someone is already angry.

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