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LAST UPDATE | 14 Oct 2024
NURSES AND MIDWIVES will today cast ballots on industrial action as their union says “large gaps” in the workforce are impacting the safety of the job.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has said its members have shared examples where short staffing has resulted in “very high-risk situations” for its members while they are at work.
The union claims positions in cancer, palliative, paediatric, and rehab care are being left vacant, and that this is ramping up pressure on staff to work on days off and stay on for unpaid periods after their shift.
“The HSE have designed a laborious, time-wasting process of application for safety-critical posts under the Pay and Numbers Strategy, which is designed to prolong the recruitment process.
“We are now seeing instances where it is taking up to twelve months to recruit much-needed nurses and midwives into vacant posts.
“This has had a hugely negative impact on nursing and midwifery,” INMO President Caroline Gourley said.
Other unions have also previously voiced opposition to the scheme. The Journal previously reported on roles disappearing or panels being bypassed.
The HSE, in a statement to The Journal, defended its staffing record and claimed it has increased the number of people who work within the service by 23% since 2020.
A spokeswoman detailed that nearly 9,400 additional nurses and midwives, over 4,000 health and social care professionals, almost 6,200 managers and admin staff and 3,330 doctors and dentists have been recruited in that time.
“The HSE respects the right of all unions and professional groups to advocate, however is important that the unions involved in protests and public commentary recognise the enormous growth and pace of change in recent years,” she said.
The spokeswoman added that the HSE found it “concerning” that unions were willing to put forward “inaccurate” information and claim that the health service was more interested in financial incentives than the care of its patients.
“That is simply not the case. We are very happy to have continuous engagements on safety and other aspects of workforce management,” she said.
The ballot will continue for INMO members throughout the day today.
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Bout time they do go on strike, enough with the wishy washy HSE excuses, we face another winter where despite 24 billion being pumped into it and many promises made things would improve post covid…..and all we get now is hospitals being so bad people are afraid to go in because they may never come out again
What kind of country allows its health service be run like this
@Tom Newell: if only they were as quick to acknowledge our front line hero’s as they were giving pay hikes( & double bonuses) to long term unemployed
@Frank Mc Carthy: Or the then HSE chief exec getting 400k a year plus a state car and salary while student nurses got nothing
@Tom Newell: more than €24 billion. €25.8 billion in the budget next year!….. It was just 14.1 billion just ten years ago…. Nearly 12 billion increase in budget and still a disaster. Nobody held accountable, just money thrown away
@Tom Newell: Exactly! How in particular are the health and housing ministers still in their jobs with the litany of fkups they trail behind them?
@Tom Newell: The nurses would be better served by their union if the union concentrated on getting them better paid, hand claps don’t pay the bills. Let the electorate vote out the current govt if they aren’t happy with the HSE, why should the nurses go on strike to improve the service for the public who keep voting for people who are destroying the HSE. Even if there was more positions they can’t get nurses to stay here because they won’t pay them what is a descent salary in Ireland for what they do.
@Chutes: There have been a number of health ministers along the way who have led the department to where it is today. Leo Varadkar and Simon Harris need to take a bow there….. As for the housing, O’Brien was handed a poisoned chalice from years of FG doing nothing to get housing going again.
@another one? what’s going on is the semi state sec: I couldn’t care less how we got here tbh, just how we get out of the shit we’re in!
@Chutes: I replied to your comment where the subject was the ministers, their fups and the trail they left behind them…… So you do care how we got here. To say otherwise goes against what you typed in your previous comment!
@another one? what’s going on is the semi state sec: You knew what I meant I imagine. The blame game is wasted other than to acknowledge reality and fire the aforementioned ministers without delay and that becomes your starting position.
@Tom Newell: That knob will end up with a massive pension based on his final salary, he was an utter disgrace & proved that he was incapable & fookd off leaving the shot show behind to be cleaned up. He wouldn’t pay student nurses & was then paying for Agency staff, a policy that deserved investigation, as some of these companies were making multiple millions & the same companies kept getting the gig.
Loads of mid mangers and paper pushers and a minority of the HSE staff are actually nurses and doctors. But hey, this is the public sector, they can’t be made redundant or retrained because the unions will want more money for that retraining or stop it altogether.
Still, the most important question is how and why were these people hired at the first place instead of nurses?
@J Ven: I’d give Phil Ní Sheaghdha whatever the hell she wants.
The woman frightens the bejaysus outa me.
Time to treat our nurses and midwifes with respect. HSE management delegating the donkey work to them long enough.
@James Leahy:
It’s the nurses union who have consistenly blocked the introduction of nursing assistants which works well in Britian to do the “donkey work”
@H Woo: yeah! It works well in Britain.The NHS is in worse shape than the HSE
@H Woo: It’s never, ever, the governments fault with you..nothing but a daily diet of pro government spin. Have you nothing better to do with your time.. ? or is this how you make your living ?
@H Woo: We don’t need lower paid staff to improve the system, we need better paid staff and more of them on in patient facing roles.
@Chutes:
Never mentioned lower paid pay. What’s the nurses union reason for blocking nurseing helpers, works fine in Britain and frees up nurses to get on with other stuff.
@H Woo: Would those staff be paid less than nursing staff? Would this increase the number of nursing staff?
@Brian:
Sorry about that Brian.
I seem to have crossed a line there.
@H Woo: Your lack of answer speaks volumes.
@H Woo: you talk some 5h1T
@Chutes:
If they were paid the same I’m sure it would be the nurses union that would object as their training would take less time.
We have plenty of nurses.
Germany Finland and Ireland top the European list for most nurses per head of population.
What we need is a look at the shift system in place.
@H Woo: So you admit, lower paid staff. The nurses say we don’t have enough, I’ll believe them over you every time!
What do you do for a living that gives you such insight?
@Chutes: It is not ideal for all services to be centralized in hospitals. Many individuals bring their loved ones to hospitals for care that could be effectively managed by pharmacists or community health nurses. These professionals are fully qualified to provide essential services within community centers and pharmacies. This approach helps to lower the number of cases going to hospitals, ensuring that hospital resources are focused on more critical needs. To many patients are turning up with medical cards also and this is causing a lot of the problems.
@Alan: Patients with medical cards are likely to be from lower socio-economic backgrounds and suffer ill health more often. Are you saying the sick shouldn’t be seen?
The rest of what you say I agree with, just that little needless dig at the end that got me.
@Chutes: HSE employee.
@SV3tN8M4: No.
@Chutes: Sorry Chutes, I didn’t mean you, I meant H Woo.
@SV3tN8M4: you sure it was Woo and not Chu.
Support the nurses 100% .
@Jim Ryan: back the nurses!!!
@Buster Lawless: Have you found god Buster lol?
@Chutes: I think it’s only right we support these pillars of society. Do you not?
@Buster Lawless: I do! I would add Gardaí, soldiers, some of whom face potential mortal danger as I write, alongside firemen.
I’m sure there are others, anyone who actually puts their person on the line for the rest of us in dangerous circumstances! It’s these people who should be adequately compensated for assuming that risk.
You’ll find the well paid people in their expensive suits seldom put fk all on the line but somehow get all the remuneration.
@Chutes: good for you and absolutely agree. Let’s make it a better world for all.
@Buster Lawless: Having to give you thumbs makes me feel really uncomfortable and a little dirty ngl LOL.
@Chutes: You are the best. Well done and good luck to you.
Staff shortages?
Germany, Finland, Ireland,
Top of the Europen list for mast nurses per head of population.
We have 30% more nurses then Britian php.
Whats going on?
@H Woo: They went into makie uppie non essential management & non patient facing roles which is part of the problem. INMO will never talk about that though.
@H Woo: Britain can’t be held up as a good example of much these days tbf.
@Chutes: Pretty much but the NHS is still better than the HSE despite all it’s current problems. I’ve had the misfortune of having two loved ones in Irish hospitals the last year. To say I was shocked was in understatement. People soiling themselves in their beds because there was no staff to hear their calls for the bathroom.
@Don Johnson: Man, haven’t seen you since Miami Vice! Yeah, I honestly avoid the places even when I probably should attend.
I have no experience of the NHS tbf.
@Chutes: NHS has universal access to healthcare not based on how profit. Although their national insurance pays for this though their taxes.
@Alan: I know how it operates, I just fortunately have had no direct experience to make much of a comparison is all.
@H Woo: Woo Hoo, all your posts in relation to the HSE are loaded with bias, you are clearly working in management in the HSE, very clear. Yes you have your odd ball troll posts in your multiple identities, but when you study all your posts in relation to the Health Service, your true agenda is very apparent. No surprise the Health Service is a shot show with the likes of you in it. Keep up your posts, you are infuriating loads of people & are the best recruitment tool for getting disillusioned people involved in overthrowing this mess.
HSE needs to put effort into outpatients, casualties, and wards. Stop with all the administrative staff.
Union polls members
Union issues strike notice
HSE issues call for talks to discuss solution.
Union suspends action.
Rinse and repeat
INMO, PNA, IMO, haven’t learned that HSE and department of health have never solved any issue of staff concern, just hand ringing and platitudes.
Rince repeat and same headlines next year.
@Spanner: you missed a line before the union suspends action, that being:
More middle management positions for nurses
The government is spending €5m a day on illegal immigration’s but can’t afford to to have proper health care nurses in place
@Billy Power: The HSE is getting over 2 Billion\month.
Not saying that 150million\month are peanuts, if the number is correct, but it hardly anything to do in this context.
They get 1 – 2 Billion added every year to the budget and it looks like money is not the issue; the allocation is wrong.
The union is not without fault at the staffing issue either.
It was the INMO who demanded in the last strikes to open and promote more nurses to management positions.
It would be interesting to know:
How many nurses have been lost at the frontline by promoting them to pencil pushers?
How many more management positions have been created because of this?
According to the “Health Service Personnel Census Report”,
HSE staff increased from 2019 to 2023 by over 20.000.
Any attempt to clean the mess the HSE is failed for the past decades, because of all the sites involved were unable or unwilling to work together, including the unions.
@Wolfgang Bonow: nursing unions highlighted these shortages occurring over 25 years ago when training shifted to collages. They were reassured by the department that the situation was in hand. Since then shortages have risen. The old training system brought in sufficient numbers to replace retirees and natural staff losses, etc.
Management layers do exist and are needed. The main problem is that a ward compliment of 4 is 1 Manager & 3 staff nurses. In some cases supernumerary staff like students get counted in this but they can’t work independently. The problem is training & retention. Not enough being trained and the conditions need to be improved to retain staff. Promotion and more money isn’t the sole answer. Start treating health workers better and not as purely a financial costing
About time, good for them!!
@Chutes: well deserved at last
Honestly another example of how Inefficient the public sector is. The HSE budget has gone from in 2023 to 2025 from 21.6b to 25.8b. All I hear is more staff more staff etc, at some point a question has to be asked is can we make it more efficient without throwing more and more money at it. Again good luck with that and dealing with the unions
@John Purcell: no as that would require someone in the public sector having two brain cells to rub together
@Niall English: some one will have to take on the unions and senior civil servants but nobody will.
First thing that can be done is that all shorter working weeks, job sharing etc should be cancelled, that would increase numbers straight away, I wonder why the union aren’t suggesting this.
@The next small thing: So you want to cut jobs? Most of those people would have incentive to leave then.
@The next small thing: legislation allows for a family friendly work schedule for all workers. Many have commitments to care for family members & can’t work 40 hrs. Some don’t wish to work weekends and nights & so opt for a 5 day week. These options keep nurses in the service where the alternative could be them not working at all.
Soft rte interview. McDonald answering nothing. Simply outlining procedures. And they complain about msm.
But I thought we have never had as many front-line staff according to Harris, lies will win them this election.
The cream of our nurses have emigrated to foreign countries, so what we have are nurses under extreme pressure with large amounts of patients on hospital beds,while administrators are on huge salaries, I don’t blame the nurses for seeking what they deserve, when the new hospital goes live whenever, this will create another major problem on Where they are going to recruit from, so obviously they will seek, foreign nurses to solve the problem.
So our present nurses who remained here should be well looked after to maintain the storm of the health system.
@Phillip Smyth:
Staff just move 2km down the Crumlin road from the old children’s hospital into the new children’s hospital.
@Phillip Smyth:
Agency nurses get payed at a higher rate.
It’s the reason some nurses who are asked to stay on to do over time to cover for someone who rings in sick refuse. They’ll ring the agency and tell them they are available
and stay on getting the higher pay rates as an agency cover.
@H Woo: Not true, the Agency gets the higher rate & pays less to the Nurses & you know this, it’s why your on here defending the HSE.
If you arrive in this country with HIV you get treatment. Even if you have never contributed as a taxpayer & aren’t an Irish citizen. You just have to arrive here. At 30 k per person per year this is one way where the budget is being spent & acts as a draw to individuals needing expensive healthcare services into Ireland. Meanwhile our hospitals are creaking, waiting lists growing & frontline services being told there is no more money until January to treat our current patients. This current model is not sustainable.
Great to see, they need to take a hard-line with the HSE & Govt who only pay lip service to front line staff. The HSE have deliberately messed around Nurses & concentrated on Agency staff who are cheaper & accept the abuses going on. The HSE also deliberately avoided panels that were drawn up with Irish staff & instead advertised internationally for the same roles, ignoring the panels where people were interviewed & selected. This is a deliberate policy as they take in Nurses from Third World countries who won’t question the shocking work practices & breakdown in Health & Safety. The HSE is probably our biggest recurring scandal with the abuses of public monies whilst offering a failed Health Service with no accountability. The HSE needs a massive clean out & it’s time people stood up.
People who go on strike, should be thrown into jail without food and water
@John Monk: Troll or Clown, maybe both, more brains in the case of the phone your typing on.
Hang on I thought they had just agreed a major pay hike to be paid over three years etc etc ?
Nurses need to be acknowledged and paid well for there demanding and some times dangerous job.
Nursing is loosing its professional status in ireland and uk etc. I worked as a nurse and I was cared for by nurses .. and the care ,, well it wasn’t really care by most of the nurses.. it was nightmare I never ever want to be in an Irish hospital ever again .. the doctors were the only kind people I met .
@Dee Deee:
A older nurse who worked in the NHS ones said in conversation that the younger nurses coming through the university system see themselfs to good to nurse old people.
What was the outcome the last time they went on strike?
have your say