Nurses asked not to cover for agency staff

STAFF nurses have been asked not to take up the slack caused by the failure of agency nurses to report for duty, following the introduction yesterday of reduced pay rates for agency staff.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) said it considered it “unfair and unjust” that the Health Service Executive (HSE) had introduced new rates, which it said will mean an €82 reduction per 12-hour shift for some agency nurses, who qualified less than two years ago (from €250 to €168) and a €31 reduction (from €251 to €220) for others, who qualified more than two years ago. INMO general secretary Liam Doran said if nurses agreed to the new rates, it would lead to further reductions.

At Cork University Maternity Hospital, 14 out of 16 agency midwives made themselves unavailable yesterday. INMO spokesperson Patsy Doyle said the organisation wanted the HSE to consider making agency staff full-time employees.

The HSE estimated that the maternity hospital will be down a total of 30 agency midwives over the remainder of the week.

In a statement, the HSE said the new contract arrangements for agency staff would deliver cost savings in excess of €40m.

It also said a small number of hospitals could postpone some elective surgery.