Embargo on recruitment is ‘morally wrong’

THE HSE’S blanket recruitment freeze is “morally wrong” and means there is no incentive for individual hospitals and health services to perform within budget if they’re to be given the same punishment as those that don’t.

These criticisms of the embargo were made yesterday by nurse managers at their annual conference in Kilkenny.

President of the Irish Directors of Nursing and Midwifery Association, Barbara Fitzgerald told the conference that nursing managers — formerly known as matrons — felt “absolutely disempowered by exclusion from the decision-making tables” by the HSE, who should be embracing the input of directors of nursing by making sure they are represented at all levels.