Government fails to put patients first

THERE have been criticisms against nurses and the Irish Nurses’ Organisation (INO) for allegedly compromising patient care.

I attended the INO protest at St Vincent’s hospital in Dublin on Wednesday, at which all the INO speakers emphasised they were putting patients first.

The nurses were all back in the hospital at noon, after a dignified one-hour protest. They are conducting an incredible campaign in the face of shameful Government and media hostility.

Nurses have always, and continue to, put patients first. The same cannot be said of the Government, which has a cheek to criticise nurses when it is the Government’s failure to provide the 3,000 extra beds promised in 2002 which has led to the A&E and overcrowding crisis.

It is the Government’s failure to give proper pay and conditions to nurses, and employ more nurses, which has led to a situation where beds lie idle because they cannot get nurses to cover them.

Politicians on salaries greater than €100,000 are trying to tell nurses on €30,000 that they don’t deserve a wage increase. We lose thousands of nurses every year to other countries or sectors because they are not getting decent pay and conditions.

Rory Hearne

People Before Profit Alliance

Christchurch

Dublin 8