INMO members home from relief work in Philippines
I want to welcome home our Filipino colleagues who recently returned from their trip to Tacloban having spent a number of weeks working in the areas affected by Typhoon Haiyan. Arising from the money raised by members we were delighted to send seven INMO Filipino members back to the Philippines to undertake relief work in the disaster area. They have now returned safely to Ireland and have brought many pictures from their time there which are available on the website. We would like to thank them sincerely for their participation in this very worthwhile project.

You can read more about their trip in the October issue

Pictured with Claire Mahon in INMO HQ before heading to the Philippines were: Nani Mirador; Marilyn Go; and Gina Baldesco

Patients First campaign
We have launched a Patients First Campaign for safety, standards and staffing (see page 7) together with representative groups, patients, families, clinicians and communities across the country.

A number of public meetings have been organised (see page 7) and I hope you will all actively participate in this campaign in order to ensure its success. The campaign will not show results overnight but it is imperative that we all remain committed to improving staffing levels and patient care through increased funding. This campaign will continue into the future and we need you, our members, to be vigilant and inform the Organisation of staffing changes in your workplace that you feel are affecting the level of patient care. We must continue to stand firm and ensure safety is maintained at all times.

Information and updates will be available through email, Twitter (@PatientsFirstIE), Facebook (www.facebook.com/PatientsFirstIE), www.inmo.ie and our new Patients First website www.patientsfirst.ie

New Minister
Since my last page we have a new Minister for Health, Dr Leo Varadkar. I look forward to working and meeting with Minister Varadkar and our first meeting with him will be on September 8. We will update you on all developments.

Students & new graduates
I would like to welcome all our new students who are embarking on their nursing and midwifery careers. I wish them all the best in their studies in what I feel are very worthwhile career paths.

I take this opportunity to congratulate all of our newly-qualified nurses and midwives and wish them well in their careers.

Branches & Sections
Following the ADC we are currently organising our special delegate conference which will be held later this year. We will let you know as soon as dates are confirmed.

As we head into September, our branch and section meetings will re-commence. These will be excellent opportunities for you to network and share information in relation to issues in your workplace and the professions in general. I am aware that there are requests for two sections to be re-activated (Paediatric and Interventional Radiology). The list of sections is available on the website and if you require further information you can contact our Section Officer, Jean Carroll on jean@inmo.ie

Dates for branch meetings are also available on the website and if you would like me to attend your branch or section meeting please don’t hesitate to contact me.

I recently had the pleasure of addressing the Care of the Older Person Section Conference in Portlaoise. This was an excellent conference and very well attended with more than 200 members present. I would like to thank the Section Officers and Conference Organising Committee for all of their hard work and commitment in making the day such a success.

Get in touch
You can contact me at the INMO headquarters at Tel: 01 6640 600, through the president’s corner on www.inmo.ie or by email to:president@inmo.ie

From the President - On the ground with the president