Nurses’ hours dispute goes to commission

THE Labour Relations Commission is to arbitrate a dispute over the hours worked by nurses at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital.

An Irish Nurses Organisation spokeswoman said progress had been made at a meeting between the INO, SIPTU and the Health Service Executive Mid-West.

The HSE Mid-West has said up to 1,800 additional operations could be carried out at the hospital every year if 70 theatre nurses worked their full contracted hours and if their unofficial tea breaks were abolished.

Nurses’ leaders reacted angrily to the claims and there were fears yesterday’s meeting between unions and management might not make any progress.

However, INO industrial relations officer Mary Fogarty emerged and said: “It was a very positive meeting and agreement was reached between the unions and management to refer the matters discussed to appropriate third parties.”

She said the hours worked by theatre nurses and the tea break issue were being referred to the Labour Relations Commission and other staffing issues would go to an external review body.

The meeting will resume on January 27.

An HSE Mid-West spokesman described the meeting as “constructive”.

Last Friday, Tánaiste Mary Harney said: “We cannot have a situation where somebody is paid a salary for a specific time period and they don’t put in those hours. If it means the theatre is not being use appropriately and operations have to be postponed or cancelled, that is not satisfactory, particularly when the staff are there and the staff are being paid.”

Four theatre nurses at the hospital in a statement to the Irish Examiner said that during their roster last weekend they worked 25 hours with just four hours rest time, due to the number of emergency operations carried out.