INMO hits out at ‘nurse bank’ move

A €12m budget saving linked to nurses working extra shifts in emergencies is an “attack on frontline services”, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has claimed.

The figure is detailed in the Department of Health’s budget breakdown, which said the saving could be made through use of a “nurse bank”. It works by asking nurses to fill shifts which have been left empty at the last minute.

Instead of hospital managers paying these nurses overtime or resorting to expensive agency workers, the system allows the shifts to be filled by staff working for normal pay rates. The policy has been in place for a number of years.