Staff at Mayo University Hospital are under alarming pressure due to unsafe staff-to-patient ratios, the INMO has warned today (Friday).
The union reports that workload and safety concerns are exacerbating the stress and strain of COVID-19, with some staff reportedly unable to take breaks, finish shifts on time or even take holidays.
The INMO has sought the scaling back of some services to increase safe staffing levels, but despite appeals to both hospital management and the Saolta hospital group, effective action has yet to be taken.
INMO Industrial Relations Officer, Anne Burke said:
The situation at Mayo University Hospital is at a crisis point.
We’ve had meetings, but nothing has changed. This sends a very negative message to our nurses and midwives working so hard to maintain a vital service that is now risky and unsafe for staff and patients alike.
Ignoring the serious health and safety issues raised is an insult to the staff across the hospital.
The INMO has raised a list of MUH staff grievances with management, but the scaling back of some services and the opening of a step-down facility in the region only took much-needed staff away from the hospital. The facility is now left without its vital escalation team, which has led to further overcrowding problems.
The Saolta group are unable to provide any relief to our members, who are doing their best to bring the public safely through this pandemic, so the HSE must now intervene at a national level.
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