Patients 'suffering in face of recruitment embargo'

Patients are suffering in silence due to the recruitment embargo in the health sector, a union leader claimed today.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) maintained Government and health chiefs have no appreciation of how tough it is on hospital wards as staff numbers drop.

Around 320 delegates will today attend the organisation’s three-day annual conference in Trim, Co Meath, where 51 motions will be debated.

INMO general secretary Liam Doran said top of the agenda will be the Croke Park deal – to which the Executive Council has recommended a No vote – and its alternative agenda for change in the health service.

“The INMO recommends members say No to these proposals,” said Mr Doran.

“We are not threatening industrial action but we simply won’t agree to a motion that requites us to expect to have 6,000 more job losses over three years and see the closure of 3,500 beds.

“In our view that is simply not sustainable in a quality health service capable of meeting the needs of Irish people.

“We couldn’t sign up to it.”

Other issues to be highlighted include the recruitment embargo, safe staffing levels, A&E overcrowding and the retention of newly qualified nurses and midwives.

Mr Doran described an 18-month ban on recruitment across the sector as merciless, with essential posts lost through retirements and maternity leave.

“With my hand on my heart I don’t think it has ever been this tough,” he said ahead of the conference.

“We had cuts-backs in 1987 and 1988 and it was nothing like this.

“We are not getting positions filed and there is no doubt standards in patient care have dropped.

“People in the community in particular are not getting the care warranted. They are suffering in silence.

“There is no appreciation of that reality by Government and the HSE.”

The INMO will unveil its alternative agenda for change in the health service where it will propose new working arrangements for nurses and midwives in the current economic climate.

Health Minister Mary Harney, INMO president Sheila Dickson, Linda Silas of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Union and writer and health analyst Sara Burke will also address the conference over the coming days.