Patient transfer halted by action

UP TO 100 psychiatric patients face a dreary Christmas in bleak wards after their transfer to a more suitable hospital yesterday was halted by industrial action.

A new acute psychiatric ward with room for 45 patients was to open at St Luke’s Hospital in Kilkenny yesterday, but a row over staff pay, protocol and procedures has halted the transfer of patients to the multi-million euro facility.

It is the latest pay and conditions row to halt the transfer of patients to more suitable facilities. In Limerick, 38 elderly psychiatric patients cannot be transferred from St Joseph’s Psychiatric Unit, formerly a 19th century workhouse, to a new centre at Villa Maria in Parteen in the city.

Nurses have declined a €4,000 relocation allowance which would clear the way for the transfer. Villa Maria, a former nursing home, was purchased by the Mid-Western Health Board two years ago at a cost of 2.5 million. Patient transfers will be delayed until the New Year at the very least, as efforts to resolve the row continue.

South Eastern Health Board chief executive officer Pat McLoughlin said he regretted that industrial action was delaying the long-awaited transfer of patients from Carlow and Kilkenny hospitals to the new unit. The board has set a target of mid-January for the move: “I would like to see that unit open, so would the management. This is a complex issue. It involves so many trade unions. It is a lot more than a move from one unit to another.

“It involves two nursing unions in Kilkenny, two in Carlow, two non-nursing unions as well as two medical unions. We have to try to synchronise talks with eight unions,” he said.

Issues have been clarified through the Labour Relations Commission and conciliation talks. Issues have been clarified and various unions expect to have balloted their members by the end of this week. The Health Board hopes that all issues may be resolved early in the new year.

The unit has been ready for almost a month and was ready for occupation yesterday, the Health Board boss said. Assessment of patients had taken place and rosters were worked out, but it remained closed yesterday.

“We put a lot of effort into trying to get it ready for today. Much debate about new units, staff issues, rosters and changes typically go down to the wire. It is complicated in this case because we have two counties and various unions. Pay is one of the issues, but the dispute centres around protocols and procedures.”

Nurses will get relocation money for transferring from Carlow to Kilkenny. “Given that management and unions wanted to go ahead with this move, we should seek that both sides agree to binding arbitration and allow the transfer of patients to go ahead.”

St Cannice’s, the hub for psychiatric patients in Kilkenny, dates back to 1851. The Health Board CEO said he is extremely anxious to get the move underway. He said any change requires a lot of negotiation but he was hopeful that such talks could be concluded soon.