Nurses threaten action unless Harney cures A

NURSES are threatening to take industrial action unless Health Minister Mary Harney resolves the A&E crisis.

SIPTU’s National Nursing Council said there was absolutely nothing new in the minister’s 10-point plan to alleviate overcrowding and nurses would no longer tolerate being “fobbed off”.

SIPTU nurses working in A&E units also claimed consultants were partly to blame for the problem; it simply took too long for patients to be discharged.

The council also believes it should be possible for patients to go directly to relevant diagnostics units

instead of having to go through A&E. SIPTU nursing official Oliver McDonagh said its A&E coordinating committee would be organising a series of meetings over coming months and would be lobbying the minister for action.

“If this does not work the alternative of a return to industrial action will be strongly considered,” he warned.

A patients’ campaign group said Ms Harney should be ashamed that the A&E crisis had worsened under her stewardship.

Janette Byrne, of campaign group Patients Together, said that when they met the minister last November, they had asked that no patient should have to wait more than four hours on trolleys in A&E.

“We have seen no change for the better since then. Minister Harney should be ashamed of herself,” said Ms Byrne.

“An apology from her is no good for the people waiting on trolleys and chairs and their relatives. We just want her to do her job,” she said.

On Tuesday, February 22, A&E nurses who are members of the Irish Nurses Organisation will be taking to the streets and shouting “enough is enough”.

Deputy general secretary of the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO), Dave Hughes, said it was crucial that patient support groups and the trade unions supported the day of action.

“Only a broadly based campaign will be sufficient to bring home the message to Government that the health strategy should be implemented,” he said.

Mr Hughes said the A&E crisis was worse in spite of a decade of campaigning. Nurses were “battled and bewildered from gruelling daily experiences”, he said.

Patients Together, which has 500 members, is delighted that the A&E nurses would be staging lunchtime protests in the affected hospitals on Tuesday week.

“The nurses will have our total support. It is only by everyone involved coming together and saying that they are not prepared to put up with the situation any longer that the changes that are needed will be made,” said Ms Byrne.

The nurses also called for an urgent meeting with Ms Harney to discuss a timeframe for the implementation of her €70 million plan to ease the problem.

Ms Harney has said it will be the autumn before people will see a measurable improvement in conditions.