Public health nurses call for end to recruitment ban

OVERSTRETCHED public health nurses drafted in to deliver the swine flu vaccine have called for an end to the ban on staff recruitment before the national roll-out of the cervical cancer vaccine (HPV).

Speaking at the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) annual delegate conference in Co Meath yesterday, public health nurse Eilish Fitzgerald said they were already on the back foot in the delivery of the primary school vaccination programme because of swine flu commitments and an outbreak of mumps last year.

Taking on the additional task of delivering the HPV vaccine would require extra staff to assist public health nurses who are also responsible for screening vision and hearing in children.