Hospital apologises to foreign nurses
Commenting on claims by the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) that 16 general nurses from India and the Philippines had been told their visas would be cancelled if they did not agree to train as midwives, Dr Michael Robson said: “If anything like that happened, we would need to address it as soon as possible.”
An emergency meeting between Dr Robson, the INO and the 16 nurses was due to take place last night.
Last Friday, the INO claimed the nurses were threatened with repatriation if they did not agree to train as midwives, which would have returned them to student status for two years with a potential loss of earnings of €26,000 each.
INO spokesman Philip McAnenly also claimed the nurses were told they would have to commit to the Irish health service for a further two years after their midwife training by the agent who recruited them. He said these threats were made in front of hospital management and represented contracts far different to those offered in their home countries.
Yesterday, Dr Robson said if the nurses had signed a contract before coming to Ireland, the hospital would have to honour it.
“We want to make sure everything is done as fairly as possible,” he said.
“We seem to be in a situation where there is a little bit of concern about what was agreed and what was not agreed and we are going to sort it out.”
The nurses were reported to be traumatised and tearful after being summoned to a management meeting on February 1 last. At the meeting they were told they would be sent home if they did not sign the new contracts by that afternoon.
According to the INO, the nurses had been hired on two-year fixed contracts as qualified general nurses. But the union claims that at the meeting on February 1, management had said they did not require general nurses and wanted them to train to become midwives.
Dr Robson said the hospital was sorry about what had happened and the upset that had arisen. He said he was not at the management meeting on February 1 and could not comment on it.
“I think it is important that we continue the negotiations and the hospital aims to resolve the issue as soon as possible to everybody’s satisfaction,” he said.
Mr McAnenly said the nurses were committed to further training and to professional self-development but not when they have to take a €26,000 income drop.
