INMO wants 1 nurse per 4 patients

Around 8,000 additional nursing staff would need to be recruited to meet the target set by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation of one nurse for every four patients in busy hospital wards.

At the launch of its safe staffing campaign yesterday, union leader Liam Doran said the first step would be to restore the 5,000 nursing and midwifery posts shed over the last five years.

“I think it would be about 5,000 and I think 3,000 more then when you look at all the various areas, but that’s the totality, across all healthcare areas,” he said.

The campaign, underpinned by a call to enshrine mandatory safe staffing levels in law, will draw on the experience of a largely successful Australian campaign where orchestrated bed closures helped force the hand of the government of New South Wales.

Addressing delegates at the INMO’s annual delegate conference in Kilkenny, Judith Kiedja, acting general secretary of the NSW Nursing and Midwifery Association, urged nurses to use their “collective power” to force change. She outlined how an intense media campaign, including keeping the public briefed on the reasons for the nurses’ actions, forced the NSW government to agree to safer staffing levels.

The INMO is seeking:

nOne nurse to four patients at busy times in acute wards;

nOne nurse to seven patients on night duty;

nOne midwife to 29.5 births (Portlaoise hospital, the subject of an investigation following a number of baby deaths at its maternity unit, reported one midwife to 70 births earlier this year;

nA 60:40 skill mix (registered nurse: healthcare assistant) in care of the elderly facilities;

nStaffing levels on wardsto be publicly displayed each day as in Britain.

According to the INMO, staffing here is lower than in equivalent wards in Britain and a recent snapshot review confirmed the situation has deteriorated further since 2012. Nurses in Ireland have to look after 1.8 patients more than their British counterparts on early and late shifts and up to 5.2 patients more on nights.

The IMO also compiled a body of international research confirming lower staffing is associated with increased risk of death, less effective and efficient care, and higher nurse burn-out.

The conference agreed its immediate next steps in the campaign will include seeking an end to the recruitment embargo; presenting international evidence to government supporting the call for improved nurse ratios; and lobbying political parties to commit to one nurse to four patients in busy times in the run up to the general election.

IMO president Claire Mahon said the “current reality of one nurse looking after over eight patients on days shifts and over 12 patients at night cannot continue” and that research confirmed the risks involved for patients.

Health Minister James Reilly was unable to address the conference today due to illness. Department of Health secretary general Ambrose McLoughlin will deliver Mr Reilly’s speech in his stead.