Hospital cannot hire psychiatric nurses due to cuts, says union

A PSYCHIATRIC hospital with the highest rate of staff assaults in the country cannot take on extra nurses because of cutbacks, unions have claimed.

The Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) said St Loman’s Hospital in Clondalkin, Co Dublin, has 184 psychiatric nurses, 22 short of its recommended complement of 206.

Des Kavanagh, general secretary of the PNA, said the union believed a number of trainee nurses, due to qualify in October, would not be offered jobs at St Loman’s because of health board cutbacks.