Nurses demand extra resources before children’s unit opens

THE Irish Nurses Organisation has warned the Health Service Executive that a new children’s high dependency unit cannot go ahead at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital until all necessary resources are put in place.

Mary Fogarty of the INO said that neither capital funding nor finance to pay the nurses required to run the unit has been arranged, despite the HSE stating the unit is to open.

The INO said that before the unit can become operational 15.5 children’s staff nurses will be needed and that management structures, anaesthetic consultant cover and education and service protocols will have to be put in place.