Nurses begin industrial action on low staffing at Cork University Hospital
The executive management board at CUH described the dispute as “entirely disproportionate and unwarranted”.
The oncology and radiotherapy ward nurses are working to rule due to “on-going inadequate and unsafe nurse staffing levels”.
On Tuesday, the WRC offered both sides an opportunity to “re-engage at conciliation” next week. CUH management subsequently asked the nurses to defer the action and engage with the commission. The nurses agreed to attend conciliation but not to defer the action.
From 8am yesterday, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) refused any “clerical and support duties” and would instead “focus on, and prioritise, direct nursing care”.
INMO industrial relations officer Mary Rose Carroll said CUH management had made promises at the WRC in May and June but then “reneged” on commitments.
“The INMO has engaged with management on this issue since December 2015 and highlighted members’ concerns which, to date, have not been adequately addressed,” she said.
“Our members are extremely concerned about patient safety and are frustrated and disappointed at management’s inadequate response to their legitimate concerns.”
According to the INMO, both sides had agreed at the WRC earlier this year that nurse and healthcare assistant staffing would not fall below 27, with two additional assistants on the night shift. However, now it says there are seven vacancies.
A spokesman for hospital management said it had undertaken a “comprehensive recruitment campaign” which had led to over 100 staff nurse grade appointments across CUH in the past 12 months. “The measures [under the WRC] implemented to date include a campaign for nursing grades to include a clinical skills facilitator and healthcare assistants, retention of graduate nurses, conversion of agency to directly employed staff, and management support to existing nursing staff to participate in a specialised higher diploma programme,” he said.
According to Ms Carroll, this figure does not take into account the number of nurses who have resigned and had to be replaced.
