Incentives needed to solve staff shortages, say nurses

OVERCROWDING is set to continue in Dublin hospitals without Government incentives to address nursing staff shortages, nursing chiefs have warned.

Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) industrial relations director David Hughes said the persistent A&E crisis would remain as long as staff shortages kept beds closed.

"The usual question is what efforts are being made to retain nurses. There is a massive problem of retention. It means beds closed in 2003 cannot be re-opened because the staff are gone. It shows no forward planning and total adherence by the health boards to the Government cap on recruitment to the health services," Mr Hughes said.

A range of solutions existed to retain staff and to attract non-practising nurses back into the system, Mr Hughes said. These included a bonus payment or 'weighting allowance' for nurses working in Dublin and a more attractive starting salary for newly-qualified nurses.

"As it is, up to 70% of nurses leave the health services within 18 months of qualifying," Mr Hughes said.

There is also a dormant pool of 15,000 qualified nurses in the country who are non-practising, according to a major research report published last month.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA) said the authority has been working with the acute hospitals and the three area health boards in the eastern region to recruit nurses with a view to opening closed beds.

The ERHA said it welcomed the Government decision to allow the spouses of non-EU nurses to work in this country which should help to retain this section of the profession. This is against a backdrop of 1,000 vacant posts and a reliance on 4,000 nurses and midwives from overseas.

The ERHA claimed the turnover rate for nurses in the eastern region has halved since 1999.

Health boards outside the eastern area have been contacted with a view to ascertaining if there are any nurses available for work in the east. An overseas recruitment campaign is taking place this month with a further similar campaign planned for later in the year. Talks have taken place with Spanish nursing authorities with a view to recruiting there, and organising English language classes for potential recruits.