The National Director of the HSE Mid West has hit back at threatened strike action by nursing staff in the Mid West Regional hospital at Dooradoyle
Members of the INO are due to conclude a ballot later this morning for possible industrial action as the reconfiguration of services between Ennis and Limerick causes further overcrowding.
However John O Brien says the ballot can only be interpreted as opposition to genuine attempts to deliver safer care in the Emergency Department which doesn’t make sense as it’s likely to affect the most vulnerable and acutely ill.
In a letter to the INO in the Mid West, John O Brien noted the nurses’ intention to resort to industrial action in what he stated was their first response to the HSE’s genuine attempt to work out issues in the Emergency Department as part of the overall transformation programme in the Mid West.
The INO decided to ballot members for possible strike at the start of December following a decision by the HSE to place extra patients on in- patient wards to cut the numbers waiting on trollies in A&E.
Mr O Brien stated that the placement of additional patients on wards isn’t a sustainable solution but that the situation on December 1st was addressed in a very short space of time once all concerned worked together to free up beds by discharging patients.
He went on to say that ED staff are willing to share responsibility by caring for some admitted” patients at any given time, while still maintaining a safe environment of care and that its only reasonable the rest of the hospital be asked to carry its fair share of the burden in the interim while a long term solution is found.
The National Director added that the new appointed Clinical Director has already started addressing the changes necessary and that if this is to continue, staff must abandon the ballot box first approach and uses the avenues in place to deal with concerns and disputes.
