Nurses warn of fatal risks from hospital cutbacks
In a speech to her union’s members the president of the Irish Association of Directors of Nursing and Midwifery (IADNM), Irene O’Connor said the loss of 2,000 nursing posts in the system had resulted in a seriously increased risk to hospital patients.
“Nursing and midwifery frontline posts are vital to the services. Without nursing management posts, wards and services throughout the country are being left without adequate numbers of clinicians to lead and manage the services,” she said. “Following an increase in patient deaths, British Mid-Staffordshire investigation reports in 2009 and again this year highlighted the growing ‘acting’ phenomenon within nursing governance, along with the non-replacement of nurses, as the main contributory factor in the extraordinary ration of patient deaths in the hospital.
“Nursing is about life and death. Without adequate and skilled nurses and midwives we are playing with the lives of the public as was identified in the Mid-Staffordshire investigation. Government decisions being made in relation to the moratorium reflect a situation where there seems to be little or no understanding of the impact on the ground in the front line.”
She questioned why nursing and midwifery are the only frontline clinical posts in the health service affected by the moratorium.
“We accept that nursing cannot remain immune from the current crisis in the public finances but what is the basis of the present policy of the Government and the Department of Health and Children that targets our profession?” she said. “Put simply, without nurses and midwives wards will have to close and services be reduced. Patients will be left waiting for, or may not even receive fundamental nursing. Clinical signs will be missed with the resulting delay in diagnosis and treatment. Diagnosis and treatment delayed prolong recovery, and failing to recognise a deteriorating condition can lead to possible death.”
Nursing directors are concerned about the services midwives can provide to expectant mothers. The expected ratio is one midwife for every mother in labour, but the IADNM had found that often that level of cover could not be provided due to the staff shortages.
