Nurses have an 'unsustainable workload'

IT is unethical, unprofessional and dangerous to accept nurse/patient ratios that prevent nurses from providing safe care, the Irish Nurses' Organisation (INO) has claimed.

According to INO president Madeline Spiers "It is not unusual in a medical-surgical acute ward for a nurse to have responsibility for 13 patients during an afternoon shift and for up to 30 patients at night.

"At a personal level I am continually alarmed at the unsustainable workload being carried out by dedicated nursing professionals in our hospitals throughout the country," she added.