Nurses begin work-to-rule over clerical cover

OUR Lady’s Hospital in Navan, Co Meath, has become the latest medical centre to be hit by a nursing dispute.

It brings to nine the total number of hospitals around the country at which members of the Irish Nurses Organisation have been engaged in industrial action in recent weeks over pay and conditions, including rostering, on-call fees, non-nursing duties and staffing levels.

Nursing staff at Our Lady’s in Navan began a work-to-rule yesterday morning to highlight their concerns over inadequate clerical cover at the hospital’s accident and emergency department.

Ten INO members are refusing to fill out an admissions records book for A&E patients. However, an INO spokesperson said the action would have no impact on direct patient care.

INO spokesperson Patsy Doyle has criticised the non-provision of clerical cover and the failure of the North Eastern Health Board (NEHB) to install a computerised admissions system for Our Lady’s, which treats more than 20,000 patients on average each year.

“It is more reminiscent of the Flintstones school of reception and documentation than a modern-day health service,” Ms Doyle said.

“Management at the hospital indicated that they were committed to providing 24/7 cover but have not implemented it.

“Instead, the patients have to wait at an unattended hatch for nurses to check their clerical details, which delays treatment of their condition,” she said.

Ms Doyle claimed funding was already available to the NEHB for additional clerical cover following the Commission on Nursing.

“This is yet another demonstration that the North Eastern Health Board has failed to engage in participatory management,” Ms Doyle said.

The INO has also warned the health board that nurses are likely to escalate the dispute if there is no resolution to the problem of clerical services being provided outside normal working hours.

Meanwhile, nurses at Our Lady’s Hospital in Cashel, Co Tipperary, are due to begin similar action over “gross staffing inadequacies” in wards and operating theatres.

Nurses at Bantry Hospital in Cork are also being balloted on a settlement formula drawn up by the Labour Relations Commission.

It is believed a majority of around 90 nurses at Bantry will vote to accept a proposal which includes the provision of additional night cover.

Ongoing work-to-rule protests and the threat of resumed industrial action are also affecting hospitals in Dublin, Nenagh, Ennis, Limerick, Carlow and Sligo.