Nurses facing probes ‘stressed and suicidal’

Nurses and midwives who are subject to fitness-to-practise hearings are suffering stress, anxiety, and in extreme cases suicidal ideation and are in need of support, a union has warned.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives’ Organisation’s annual delegate conference yesterday heard that it spent €600,000 last year defending members in such cases.

Dr Edward Matthews, INMO director of social policy and regulation, told delegates in Cork that the organisation covers the cost of such proceedings for its members, and said the INMO membership fee is the “best value-for-money insurance scheme that I have ever seen in my life”.