Pressure across our health service is continuing to grow. We are seeing pre-pandemic numbers of patients on trolleys this week. Covid cases are on the rise again. We have continued to raise these issues both with the HSE and in the public domain. Please see below an update on some of the issues we have been raising this week:
Budget 2022
As part of Budget 2022, €22.2 billion has been allocated to be spent on health in the coming year. The INMO has broadly welcomed some measures included in Budget 2022 such as the allocation to women’s health that will include the long-underfunded National Maternity Strategy, investment for Sexual Assault Treatment Units, and additional funding for mental health, disability, and hospice services.
However, we are seeking further information on exact figures on the number of nurses and midwives that will be recruited between now and the end of 2022. We know exactly how many Gardaí and teachers will be hired next year, we need the same clarity for our own workforce.
We also want further information on the implementation of the Safe Staffing and Skills Mix Framework. In our classrooms we have a pupil-teacher ratio on what the optimum number of kids in a classroom is, we need to see a patient-nurse ratio embedded in the Budget too.
We will be seeking to meet Minister Donnelly and his officials to discuss our concerns around the Budget.
You can check out our Pre-Budget submission we made to the Government.
Connolly Hospital Protest
On Monday last, nurses in Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown held a protest to highlight excessive workloads and consequential increasingly unsafe conditions. The INMO has engaged with hospital management to find a resolution to this ongoing issue and is not satisfied with the response to the safety concerns raised.
INMO members are calling on the hospital management to restrict services, close beds, and wards and divert scheduled care to private hospitals. This action needs to be taken to protect standards of care, patients, and staff.
While a recent recruitment initiative has had some success many of the new recruits will not start until 2022. Hospital management needs to act urgently to keep staff and patients safe.
Management has agreed to a limited provision of sixty additional nurses in the next eight weeks. Discussions are ongoing with management.
Student Nurses and Midwives
After all the kind and soothing words about the work of student nurses and midwives, Budget 2022 is silent on the matter of their pay. The Minister for Health has had the independent report by Seán McHugh on student pay since the 12th of August 2021. It is not good enough that after two months of consideration of the recommendations that the report hasn’t been published or any of its recommendations were not identified in Budget 2022.
The INMO wrote to the Minister for Health on the 13th of August, the day after the report was issued to the Department seeking a copy of the report. We have had three meetings with the Department of Health officials since then and they have not been given the authority to share the report with the INMO or the students we represent.
This evening we met with the students. A notice will be sent to members this next week.
Menopause Survey Results
Ahead of World Menopause Day on 18th October, we held a very successful webinar on menopause in the workplace with Loretta Duignan from Menopause Hub. You might recall that we recently asked members to take part in a menopause survey, and we are delighted with the amount of you that responded and shared your thoughts and lived experiences.
We will publish the results early next week but it is clear that with an overwhelmingly female workforce, the health service should be a leader in promoting workplace wellbeing for people experiencing menopause. The development of workplace policies is an employer's responsibility for fostering equality and is vital for retaining skilled staff in their professions.
Media coverage this week
It’s been a busy week for the INMO in the media.
European Federation of Nurses (EFN) Associations Update
Earlier this week the EFN held a virtual General Assembly to discuss the current challenges nurses are facing across Europe. The meeting which INMO President Karen McGowan and I attended confirmed that many nurses in hospitals across Europe find themselves in similar situations to nurses at home here in Ireland such as workplace safety and staffing shortages.
The COVID-19 pandemic reaffirmed the value of well-prepared and educated nurses and their critical impact on lower mortality rates and better patient outcomes.
As part of their lobbying initiatives the EFN will be calling on the EU Member States to invest in nursing and strategies for recruitment and in order to ensure healthier, safer, fairer, resilient, and more sustainable health systems.
The EFN agreed to prioritise further education, workforce, quality, and safety in its dealings with national and European political leaders.