Action will begin on November 3 in response to dispute over staffing levels
Nurses in Mayo University Hospital have voted in favour of industrial action as part of an ongoing dispute over staffing levels in its emergency department.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has served notice of industrial action on HSE management at the Castlebar-based hospital. Nurses working in the Emergency Department will begin the action on November 3.
“Following a balloting process and proceedings at the Workplace Relations Commission to resolve staffing issues in the Mayo University Hospital emergency department, our members feel that recent actions of management do not demonstrate a genuine attempt to protect their safety at work or indeed provide safe clinical areas or safe staffing for patients,” said Colm Porter, INMO assistant director of industrial relations for the west.
According to the union, the ED currently has a deficit of 10 whole-time equivalent (WTE) nurses. A further 28.5 WTE nurses would be needed to meet the safe staffing levels outlined in the HSE’s own Safe Staffing Framework for Emergency Departments.
“Our members are working in a department that is persistently overcrowded and chronically understaffed,” added Mr Porter.
“Our members are very disappointed that it has come to this, but unfortunately, they feel the risks being posed to patients due to ongoing understaffing problems have become too significant and that their concerns are not being taken seriously.
“Mayo University Hospital has been consistently overcrowded since January with over 3,577 patients on trolleys so far this year. Attempts to downplay the severity of the situation in Mayo by the Minister for Health and hospital management in recent days are contrary to the very real lived experiences of our members and the patients they are trying to provide safe care to.
“Nurses in Mayo University Hospital’s emergency department are advocating for patients who deserve safe staffing levels. They are now reminding the HSE as their employer that they are obligated to provide staff with a healthy and safe workplace. Hospital management have failed to ensure safe levels of nurse staffing for far too long.
“It is disappointing that nurses have had to go to such lengths to highlight their concerns for patient safety and their own mental and physical wellbeing. Our members in Mayo are coping with excessive workloads, yet they are still determined to have their concerns heard and to continue advocating on behalf of their patients.”
Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has repeatedly been vocal in calls for greater levels of productivity and efficiency at the hospital. She said that Mayo University Hospital is the seventh-best staffed Model 3 hospital in the country, and has argued that hospitals in general need to do more in other departments to support their ED.
