Mental handicap nurses angered at care assistants' wage agreement

EDWARD MATHEWS does an invaluable job, but he feels distinctly unappreciated. He is one of 1,600 Registered Mental Handicap Nurses (RMHN) angered by a wage agreement that will see non-nursing care staff earn 2,000 more than him.

Referred to variously as residential programme assistants, house parents and care assistants, depending on your place of employment, these non-nursing staff, the RMHN’s claim, are unqualified and under their supervision.

The reason they stand to earn more than the RMHNs is because their unions secured improved pay for them, at a time when the Government was desperate to boost staffing numbers at residential units for troubled children, who had come before the courts. IMPACT will argue the RMHN pay claim is spurious, that care staff in many cases do not report to the RMHN and that many of these care staff have qualifications, but in 22-year-old Edward Mathews workplace, this, he says, is not the case. A staff nurse at St Mary’s, Drumcar, Co Louth, home to over 200 severe to profoundly mentally handicapped adults, predominantly male, he is responsible for daily supervision of up to nine clients and up to five care staff.

His day begins at 8am and he usually goes home 12 hours later after a day of demanding and widely-varying tasks. “I look at the skills mix of the care staff reporting to me and assign them according to their experience. They are under my supervision as residential programme assistants and are not certified care staff. After that I am responsible for a holistic assessment of the adults in my care and developing a programme of care to meet their needs. This will mean bringing on their life and social skills; looking after their educational, recreational and occupational needs and talking to and counselling my clients.” Recreation can involve anything from trips to the cinema, the beach, bowling or just going for a walk.

Occupational activity extends to work programmes such as woodwork and workshops. Rostering for 15-16 care staff weekly. Involvement in basic care needs for clients including sanitary, feeding, dressing. Reporting to superiors and making sure duties are carried out in line with employer’s policies and the requirements of An Bord Altranais Fitness to Practice Committee. Training of student nurses. Reviewing client care plans. Dealing with challenging behaviour on a daily basis. “I don’t begrudge house parents their pay deal, but no cognisance was given to the training done by the RMHN and the fact that we are the backbone in the provision of care to the handicapped. We have been driving improvements in the service since the 1960s.

“Yet if the new pay deal for house parents goes through, the house parent will have longer lifetime earnings. By default, it will eliminate the RMHN, the one professional solely dedicated to looking after the mentally handicapped.”