IRISH nurses and midwives are taking strike action from next week, with two-hour rolling stoppages commencing on Thursday, 14th January.
Members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), working in the country’s 26 Emergency Departments (EDs), have rejected, by a margin of 58% to 42%, proposals, brokered by the WRC, to address overcrowding, staffing and patient safety issues in these departments.
The INMO Executive Council, in response to the ballot result, held a National Meeting of Emergency Department Strike Committees and Representatives on Thursday, January 7, in INMO Head Office. In addition, the Executive Council sanctioned the first day of strike action, involving two-hour rolling stoppages, for Thursday, January 14, with subsequent days of action following later.
The INMO Executive Council, at a special meeting on Wednesday, reviewed the feedback from information meetings held in recent weeks. At these meetings it was clearly stated that members have no confidence, in local management, to deliver, on a 24/7 basis, the required changes to improve the environment for both patients and staff in Emergency Departments.
This lack of confidence was confirmed, in recent days, when, once again, over 550 patients were on trolleys in Emergency Departments across the country. Members, particularly at meetings on Monday and Tuesday, repeatedly articulated the view that this demonstrated senior management and clinicians, at hospital level, had not prepared for the inevitable surge, in the early days of the New Year, which left patients and staff once again in crisis.
The INMO consulted with ED strike committees and representatives, on Thursday, to collectively review, the current situation, and prepare for the first day of strike action next Thursday, January 14. Speaking on Wednesday, INMO General Secretary Liam Doran said: ‘It is quite clear that, in rejecting these proposals, our members were stating that they had no confidence in senior management, at local level, to implement the proposed measures on a continuous basis.
‘It was also obvious that members believe that there is a complete lack of awareness within senior management as to the compromising of patient care and safe nursing practice, occurring on a daily basis, from the continuous presence of trolleys and overcrowding generally.’
Doran concluded: ‘We will now consult with our ED representatives and strike committees, on Thursday, and prepare for the first day of strike action, in seven hospitals, now scheduled for Thursday, January 14. Our campaign for a safer environment, for patients and staff, in the country’s emergency departments will continue until our members are satisfied the necessary measures will be applied on a 24/7 basis.’
In a message to members on Wednesday, the INMO leadership stated: ‘This is a note to formally advise you that, following the recent national ballot, our members in Emergency Departments have rejected the WRC proposals by a margin of 58% No to 42% Yes.
‘The INMO Executive Council met, in special session, this afternoon to review the situation, following this democratic decision, and has decided the following;
‘A national meeting of our ED Strike Committees and Representatives has now been convened, for 12 noon on this Thursday 7th January, in INMO Head Office to review and determine next steps; and:
• The Organisation will now prepare for the first day of strike action, involving two-hour rolling work stoppages, in seven Emergency Departments, across the country, which will take place on Thursday 14th January.
‘In reviewing the ballot decision, and the feedback from meetings held in recent weeks, it is clearly apparent that members have no confidence in their senior management to deliver the necessary changes to ensure safe patient care and a safe working environment. This lack of confidence was proven to be correct in the light of the crises, in recent days, which, once again, saw over 550 patients, admitted for care, on trolleys in Emergency Departments across the country.’
The stark reality of the crisis was exemplified on Wednesday night, when INMO said Beaumont Hospital in Dublin should go off call immediately due to unsafe conditions in the emergency department.
In a statement on Wednesday evening, INMO said: ‘There are currently 75 patients in the department, 33 of whom are awaiting an in-patient bed.’ INMO said that this number was set to rise further throughout the evening. The hospital had asked patients to stay away from its emergency department due to overcrowding after it had over 50 patients waiting for a bed on Tuesday.
INMO Industrial Relations Officer, Lorraine Monaghan said: ‘The hospital is in crisis since Monday yet the appropriate actions have not been taken to address the severe overcrowding levels.
‘It is imperative that the hospital goes off call immediately and remains off call until such time that the situation is brought under control.’
Earlier, INMO said the level of overcrowding at Beaumont was completely unacceptable, describing it as ‘inhumane’. An emergency consultant at Beaumont said doctors are operating in a very challenging environment which is putting the safety of patients at risk and that there were 34 admitted patients in the emergency department on Wednesday morning – two for every clinical space available for them to be assessed.
Dr Peadar Gilligan, who is also chair of the Irish Medical Organisation’s consultant committee, said: ‘We feel that our ability to provide care is compromised by virtue of the fact that we can’t assess the patient in an appropriate space, therefore the sort of questions we can ask of the patient are somewhat compromised.
‘Our ability to do a thorough clinical examination is compromised as well. And indeed our ability to deliver timely treatment is hugely compromised by virtue of the fact that often times we have to wait for a clinical care space to become available to try and see the patient.’
Fianna Fáil health spokesperson Billy Kelleher said: ‘The fact of the matter is, our emergency departments again are in crisis as we face into 2016. Clearly there is just not enough capacity in terms of dealing with the through-put, we don’t have an additional level of nurses that were meant to be recruited over 2015 to ensure that we had enough emergency staff in place. We have a lack of emergency consultants and simply our hospital system is under huge pressure.’
