INMO: Irish hospital staff levels well below those in British health service

Irish hospitals are having to cope with consistently less staff than their British counterparts — resulting in needless deaths, chronic absenteeism, and a higher risk of avoidable mistakes.

Figures to be released by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation today will claim that nurse staffing levels in medical, surgical, elderly care, and assessment wards are significantly worse than those in the NHS.

The union claims there are six fewer nurses working in an average Irish surgical ward than in the NHS; three fewer in medical; three fewer in elderly care; and 13 fewer in an admission and assessment units.