Varadkar: Strike wont get a single patient off a trolley
Nurses are preparing for emergency department strikes next week after talks on overcrowding with the HSE on Wednesday night collapsed.
Mr Varadkar said that action to reduce the number of patients on trolleys was showing results, but acknowledged that the working conditions in many emergency departments were poor.
“It is a pity that we are now heading into industrial action which won’t get a single patient off a trolley and might actually set us backwards again,” said Mr Varadkar.
During an interview on RTÉ Radio yesterday, Mr Varadkar said he did not want to see nurses go out on strike and believed a deal could be reached.
“The health service employers remain available to resume talks at any time and the Workplace Relations Commission is ready to chair them,” he said.
Mr Varadkar said a lot could be done to deal with emergency department staffing, health and safety, and patient safety, but his hands were tied on extra pay because of the Lansdowne Road Agreement.
The health minister said that there were 750 more nurses now than there were this time last year, and reckoned that 300 more would be needed before the end of the year.
He said that additional nurses were needed in the community, on the wards, and in medical assessment units so that people did not end up in emergency departments in the first place.
Mr Varadkar said 200 of the 400 additional hospital beds had been opened and plans were being made to open 100 more.
He accepted the principle that more incentives could be offered to recruit additional staff, but added that this was really an issue that should be negotiated by the parties.
Deputy general secretary of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation Dave Hughes said that the two-hour strikes in seven acute hospitals on Tuesday were “inevitable”.
However, Mr Hughes added that there would be contact between the INMO and the HSE before the industrial to put a contingency plan in place. He said private hospitals like the Mater in Dublin were offering attractive packages to nurses that the HSE could not compete with.
HSE national director of human resources Rosari Mannion said there was an incentive package of €1,500 for nurses. It had not yielded the expected return but they remained hopeful.
The HSE said a separate process within the WRC could explore pay and allowances.
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