Porters told they must watch at-risk psychiatric patients
Thirty porters at South Infirmary-Victoria University Hospital in Cork, had argued in the Labour Court that using them to observe patients was putting patients and staff at risk because they were not qualified to do the job, known as “specialising”.
SIPTU branch secretary Joe O’Callaghan said the porters believed that nurses or paramedics were more suitably qualified to observe at-risk psychiatric patients.
“Unfortunately, the Labour Court felt the job should be done by porters and we are now left with a situation which we regard as unsatisfactory and unfinished business,” he said.
At the end of the hearing, the court said it was satisfied that observing patients came within the scope of the porters’ duties and recommended the practice should continue. It noted, however, that new measures to address the porters’ concerns had not yet been tested, and it recommended a 12-month review.
Mr O’Callaghan said the porters would observe the status quo with “great reluctance” until the review was completed next year.
Hospital management said specialising was a normal security function that porters had always carried out. The hospital also told the court it had been made clear to all nursing and other staff that porters would maintain a security presence when required but would not be involved in patient care.
