Irish Examiner, March 30, 2006

The ‘road to Damascus’ conversion of Tánaiste and Health Minister Mary Harney to the sheer scale of the crisis gripping A&E departments at the country’s hospitals is mind-boggling, to put it mildly.

Following years of angry protests involving nurses, doctors, patients and relatives frustrated over the dire state of Ireland’s A&E service, it defies credulity that only now is the minister finally conceding that a national emergency exists.

Where has the Tánaiste been for the past year-and-a-half? ... A&E

Evelyn Ring, Irish Examiner, March 25, 2006

Two nurses’ organisations have joined forces to reverse an “intolerable and insulting” situation where nurses and midwives are earning less than childcare workers.

Both the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) and the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) said it was ridiculous that after 21 years an honours degree-registered nurse and midwife would get the same pay as qualified and unqualified childcare workers. ... Unions

Ocean fm, March 22, 2006

The President of the National SIPTU Nursing Council, Sligo-based Mary Durcan, has claimed that nurses are becoming increasingly angry and frustrated with the overcrowding problems in the A and E Departments of the country's hospitals.

Ms Durcan, who's a nurse at Sligo General Hospital, was speaking at the annual SIPTU nursing conference, which is taking place at the Southern Hotel in Sligo.

Today is the last day of the conference. ... Sligo-based

Ireland Online, March 21, 2006

SIPTU has indicated that it expects significant pay increases for nurses during the next round of benchmarking.

The union is due to make a submission on the matter to the benchmarking body later this year.

Speaking at a meeting of SIPTU nursing representatives in Sligo last night, official Miriam McCluskey said nurses had to be properly rewarded for their work. ... SIPTU

Ireland Online, March 20, 2006

Nurses attached to SIPTU are due to discuss the ongoing overcrowding of accident and emergency units at a special union meeting in Sligo this evening.

Earlier this month, the number of people waiting in A&E units for admission to hospital beds reached record levels of almost 500 in one day.

Nursing unions say the figures show that Government measures designed to tackle the problem are failing to have any effect on the ground. ... SIPTU

Michael Duffy, Mayo News, March 15, 2006

Representatives of the Irish Nurses’ Organisation are this week to meet with management of Mayo General Hospital in Castlebar to express serious concerns at the amount of patients being treated on hospitals trolleys.

The number of patients being treated on trolleys has been alarmingly high in February and March and last week members of Castlebar Town Council stated they would stage a protest at the gates of the hospital if the situation does not improve by the end of March. ... Nurses

Belfast Telegraph, March 11, 2006

Nurses at one of the province's leading intensive care units are being paid almost three times the average hourly rate.

The figures revealed by the BBC found that agency nurses at the Royal Victoria Hospital are being paid £32 per hour to work in the cardiac intensive care unit, while most NHS 'E' grade nurses would get a maximum of £11.65 per hour.

The hospital admitted to paying the money to the Mayfair private recruitment agency for the specialist nurses. ... Nurses

Ali Bracken, Irish Times, March 11, 2006

An elderly woman died of a brain haemorrhage on a trolley in a nurses' tea station at the Mater hospital in Dublin after waiting for four hours to be seen by a doctor because her condition was not considered a priority, a consultant at the hospital told an inquest yesterday.

Eamonn Brazil, consultant in emergency medicine at the Mater, said that Nancy Lucas (74), of Woodhazel Close, Ballymun, was placed in "category three" of the medical queue when she presented at the hospital after having a stroke, since she was quite alert at that point. ... Elderly

Irish News, March 5, 2006

The two main nurses’ unions have called for clear guidelines for whistleblowers in the health sector in the wake of the Michael Neary report.

The former obstetrician had carried out 129 hysterectomies at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda before the alert was raised in 1998 by a midwife concerned that many of the procedures were unnecessary. This was subsequently confirmed.

Unions have claimed midwives could have stepped in to stop the obstetrician from removing women's wombs if a culture of silence had not existed. ... Nurses

Irishhealth.com, March 1, 2006

The number of patients waiting on trolleys in A&E topped the 400 mark yesterday, according to the Irish Nurses Organisation. There was a total of 414 patients on trolleys awaiting treatment yesterday morning, according to the INO. Tallaght Hospital in Dublin had the highest number on trolleys, at 42. ... Trolley

Joanne Lowry, News Letter, March 1, 2006

More than 5,000 nurses were attacked while on duty in Ulster hospitals last year, according to a report out today. The findings, which have been published by the Royal College of Nursing, show that more more than a quarter of nurses (27 per cent) said they had been physically attacked while 68 per cent had been verbally abused.

RCN director Mary Hinds said some nurses had been left with broken noses while others had had chairs thrown at them. Ms Hinds said: "I know colleagues who have been pushed against a wall with someone's hand against their throat. The physical harm is not extensive, but the psychological impact is. ... Extent

Belfast Telegraph, March 1, 2006

Physical attacks on health service personnel are, sadly, nothing new but to judge a new survey, the incidence appears to be reaching epidemic proportions: The main finding is that 27% of Northern Ireland's 20,000 nurses reported that they had been attacked while on duty last year. ... Nurses

Nurses in Northern Ireland are "at breaking point" because they are being bullied, attacked and harassed, the Royal College of Nursing has said.
BBC News, February 28, 2006

In a survey, almost half of the nurses who responded, reported having been harassed or assaulted by patients or their relatives in the last year.

Nearly a quarter also felt that they had been bullied or harassed at work in the past 12 months.

RCN director Mary Hinds said violence against nurses was "unacceptable". ... NI

Catherine Shanahan, Irish Examiner, February 25, 2006

An inquiry into a Drogheda maternity unit where an inordinately high number of women had their wombs removed is expected to reveal nurses were afraid to raise their concerns with senior medical staff.

A draft copy of the report of the Lourdes Inquiry also questions the failure of management to query the high number of hysterectomies carried out by disgraced obstetrician Michael Neary. ... Nurses

Niall Hunter, Irish Health, February 24, 2006

Nurses in Ireland have only low to moderate job satisfaction levels, according to a new study.

And the Irish Nurses Organisation says one of the main reasons for this is that nurses feel they are not appreciated within the health system.

The study surveyed 2,000 nurses by questionnaire and also used focus group interviews to determine their level of job satisfaction, testing the general consensus in other research that job satisfaction in nursing is relatively low. ... Undervalued