Labour Court recommends time off for Beaumont Hospital nurses after overnight call-outs

The Labour Court recommended changes to Beaumont Hospital’s on-call arrangements for X-ray nurses, including time off after some overnight call-outs and options for public-holiday duty. The recommendation was signed on 18 December 1995. The Services Industrial Professional Technical Union and the Irish Nurses Organisation sought improved call-out terms and time off. The Court limited its recommendations to time off, public holidays and overtime arrangements, leaving other issues for agreement between the parties. For Sunday-to-Thursday call-outs between midnight and 2am, nurses were to start work two hours after their normal starting time; after calls between 2am and 7am, they were to start four hours later. Continuous attendance from midnight to 6am was to earn a full day off. Weekend call-outs were to receive time off in lieu, in addition to the call-out fee. Nurses on public-holiday standby were to have the option of being rostered for duty and paid as outlined by the hospital. Staggered starts were to apply only to nurses already working them and future nurses in the area.