Nurses begin ballot for industrial action at Mayo University Hospital
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has initiated a ballot of its members at Mayo University Hospital this week in response to what the organisation describes as dangerous staffing shortfalls in the hospital.
The union has criticised the HSE for failing to implement the Safe Staffing Framework, and it is calling for a significant number of additional funded positions to be added in the Emergency Department (ED).
The Safe Staffing Framework outlines the evidence-based minimum staffing levels necessary for safe patient care.
INMO's Assistant Director of Industrial Relations for the area, Colm Porter, explained that the organisation's members were "very disappointed" that the situation had escalated to this level.
He said that ultimately, members felt the risks being posed to patients at MUH had become too significant due to understaffing, adding that they felt their concerns were not being taken seriously.
"This ballot comes at the end of a long process in which we have tried to resolve the ongoing staffing issues with management in the hospital," he said in a statement released this morning.
"Unfortunately, the staffing proposals made by management did not meet the minimum level required to maintain the safety of staff and patients in the emergency department,
"Our members have lost confidence in the hospital's ability to address these concerns through normal engagement channels, and have now been left with no option but to escalate the matter,
"Long-term measures are required to address what has become a chronic staffing shortfall, which our members have been documenting and reporting for two years without an adequate response from their employer,
"Nurses in the hospital are calling for additional funded positions to bring staffing to a minimally safe level in the department and address what they consider is an unacceptable level of risk to their patients."
The ballot for industrial action is open to members in Emergency Department A, Emergency Department B, the Medical Assessment Unit, and the Escalation Team.
Local TD Paul Lawless raised the Safe Staffing framework in the Dáil last week, and addressed the issue of understaffing with Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill.
Deputy Lawless urged the Minister to implement the framework as soon as possible, adding that it could provide an additional 30 nurses at MUH.
The Aontú representative shared the story of one man who had waited for over 13 hours in an ambulance outside MUH before being admitted, warning that the hospital was understaffed and that the risk to patient safety was growing.
He has since called for an immediate review into what he described as "management failings" at the hospital.
He said he had spoken with nurses who were exhausted, who were missing breaks, and working unsafe hours.
Stories of new recruits being "flung into the deep end" as there is no capacity to train them, and student nurses have told the TD that there is no support system in place for them.
"Mayo needs management that will take responsibility for these failures. If they will not, they must be shown the door. Our nurses and doctors cannot keep shouldering the consequences of mismanagement," he said.
Deputy Lawless said the review must implement immediate seven-day rostering, the Safe Staffing Framework, and most importantly, accountability.
Minister Carroll MacNeil rejected claims of understaffing but said instead that the hospital is imbalanced.
After making an unscheduled visit to MUH in August, the Minister stated that she found issues with minimal weekend discharges and an imbalance of staff within the hospital.
Promising to write to all Mayo TDs and councillors addressing the issues, the Minister stood firm in her argument that the hospital needed to balance its staff and called the problem a "whole hospital responsibility".
"Let's stick to the facts here," she said, "It is not understaffed; it needs to be balanced."
This article has been funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.