Nurses’ concern over proposed hospital cuts

THE Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) yesterday expressed “great concern” over planned cuts at the MidWest’s largest hospital.

Before a meeting with HSE management of the Midwest Regional Hospital in Limerick yesterday, INMO Industrial Organiser, Noel Traynor said: “In the absence of a well thought out defined strategy, the proposals will lead to a diminution of service at the hospital that is below what could be considered a baseline appropriate level of service.”

Mr Traynor said the INMO had ‘great concern’ over the proposals.

Yesterday’s meeting was to provide clarity to the INMO from the HSE on the measures it is taking to ensure that the hospital comes in on budget this year.

In a statement, the HSE confirmed that at the end of June “the services in the Midwest were €21 million in excess of the available budget and there are no options outside the Mid West to source this money.

“There is a clear expectation that the services will manage within available budget,” it said.

The cost cutting measures involve the closure of 25 beds at the hospital.

The HSE said as part of reducing expenditure in the Midwest “we are reducing agency and overtime expenditure by 50% from August to the end of the year having previously reduced it by smaller amounts”.

“In 2010, €26m was spent in the region on agency and overtime alone. We continue to focus on reducing absenteeism, maximising opportunities to change rosters and redeploying staff, and all other means by which we can provide the highest possible level of service.

“As we can no longer finance the cost of agency and overtime as a means of replacing staff in a moratorium controlled environment, we continue to work with our front line service managers to explore all possible measures to minimise the impact on front line service delivery.”

The HSE said every effort will be made to ensure it takes “full advantage of the services we have, not only in Dooradoyle but also all of our other hospitals in the Midwest”.

Mr Traynor said morale amongst nursing staff “is desperate”.

“They are under terrible pressure and feeling burnt out,” he said. “If these cuts go ahead, it is only going to get worse.”

In the latest Healthstat report on the hospital’s performance, it found that just under 20% of patients were waiting between 12 and 24 hours to be admitted to the hospital through the emergency department.