Anger over board’s failure to protect nursing staff

A SURGE in the number of fitness to practice complaints against nurses has led to calls for the public condemnation of employers who fail to protect staff.

Delegates attending the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) AGM in Killarney yesterday were told the number of complaints had increased by 350% in the last three years.

INO general secretary Liam Doran said 44 cases against nurses, referred to An Bord Altranais for investigation, were outstanding.

Clare Treacy, director of organisation and social policy, said four nurses were suspended from work pending the outcome of investigations into complaints against them.

Mr Doran said nursing’s regulatory body, An Bord Altranais, was failing nurses by not exposing deficiencies in the health services that often contributed to errors.

“They need to take the background of the environment in which the nurse was practicing into account in the same way the College of Anaethesists took the environment at Monaghan Hospital into account when they removed its on-call status,” said Mr Doran.

“We want An Bord Altranais to advocate for standards and to comment when nurses find themselves short-staffed. They regulate, but they never comment. Their silence is deafening.”

Newly-elected INO president Madeline Spiers said while some cases deserved to be referred to An Board Altranais, it was not always the appropriate route.

“Are the cases being referred being reviewed appropriately locally and with compassion where they happen?” she said.

“Maybe that person is ill and not unfit to practice, as nurses we have a duty of care, but there is also a duty of care to us.”