Nursing shortage in acute hospital at ‘crisis point’

A shortage of nurses in a 300-bed, acute hospital has reached "crisis point" largely because of the recruitment ban, it has been claimed.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation also claimed the situation at Kerry General Hospital in Tralee, which serves a population of 150,000, is unsafe and untenable.

The nursing union’s industrial relations officer, Michael Dineen, said its members were challenged to deliver safe, effective care to patients.

Ten beds were opened in the hospital without sufficient extra staff being employed, Mr Dineen said.

As a result, staff were being redeployed within the hospital, which further reduced the staffing numbers in the wards. He accused the HSE of not providing the agreed nursing complement to enable its own service plan to be delivered.

“It was agreed locally that 420 nurses would be required to deliver this service in 2014, yet there are only 402 whole-time equivalents in the system,” said Mr Dineen.

A HSE spokesperson, meanwhile, said KGH, like all hospitals, worked within an allocated budget and an allocated number of staff.

“There are certain areas in KGH where maintaining nursing staffing levels has been a challenge due to retirements, sick leave and unfilled posts. However, every effort is made to fill approved posts as quickly as possible,” she said.

At times, she said, it was necessary to open additional beds. Every effort was then made to provide extra staffing through redeployment, more shifts, overtime and the use of agency nurses and health care assistants.

She also said initiatives to support nursing staff had been underway throughout 2014, such as recruitment of additional health care assistants.