A&E nurses in Mercy vote in favour of industrial action

Nurses working in a busy city centre emergency department in Cork have voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action over concerns that staff shortages are compromising patient care.

However, they have agreed not to go on strike in the short term at the emergency department in the Mercy University Hospital (MUH) to allow management the chance to improve staffing levels.

The deferral of action follows a meeting yesterday morning between hospital management and the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).

INMO spokesman Michael Dineen said their employer had promised to abide by the terms of an agreement made last year whereby there would be nine nurses on duty by day in the emergency department and seven by night. Mr Dineen said the numbers recently had been closer to six nurses by day and five by night.

Staff were also concerned that the ratio of nurses to patients in the emergency department for observation was too high. Mr Dineen said there were occasions when nurses were assigned five to eight patients for observation when the ratio should be two patients per nurse.

Yesterday, Mr Dineen said the hospital had agreed to provide additional staffing when there were four or more observational patients in the emergency department. In addition, he said management had promised to increase staff numbers at the weekends “to reflect the increase in attendances”. “They have also given a commitment to actively recruit extra staff in the UK,” Mr Dineen said.

Also central to the agreement was a commitment from management to review staffing using “an agreed individual”. Mr Dineen said the person selected would be independent of the hospital and the union and they were hopeful such an individual could be found in the next week, with a view to completing the review by the end of May.

“We are suspending the threat of industrial action to see if the hospital gives affect to the agreements reached and we will be monitoring that closely,” Mr Dineen said.

He said they had agreements in the past but “the hospital didn’t abide by them”. Both parties would assess the outcome of the review, he said.

Hospital management admitted being aware of staffing difficulties in the emergency department which it has tried to address through recruitment. Up to 20 nurses have been hired this year, but they are spread throughout the hospital, Mr Dineen said.

The plan for the emergency department — where almost 31,000 patients presented last year — is to reduce it to a 12-hour service, which means the only 24-hour emergency department in the city and county will be Cork University Hospital.