Midland Regional Hospital at Mullingar.

Hse hits back at nurses staffing crisis claims

A staffing crisis so bad that nurses are being called in from parental leave and denied days off has left Mullingar hospital at “its lowest ebb”, and led to calls for an emergency meeting between the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) and the HSE.

But the HSE, in a statement issued yesterday (Monday), has hit back over claims that there is a staffing crisis at the hospital, revealing plans to recruit 10 permanent and 10 temporary midwives, and saying it engages 30 agency nurses each week, and has begun a process of engaging some of those as permanent, directly-employed staff.

The INMO claims come a week after a meeting in Mullingar for its members here.

“Staff are of the view that the hospital is unsafe,” said INMO industrial relations officer, Derek O’Neill, after the meeting, which he said was attended by around 40 nurses.

“There’s a combination of two things,” he explained: “The hospital is overcrowded: the volume of patients coming in is immense and to compound matters, we don’t have the nurses or midwives.”

The HSE has confirmed that maintaining nursing staffing levels “has been a challenge”, due to retirements, sick leave and unfilled posts.

But, its statement said, “every effort is made to fill approved posts as quickly as possible”, and the hospital “has approval to recruit 10 permanent replacement nursing/midwife posts and 10 additional temporary nursing/midwife posts”.

The HSE has also confirmed that on occasion, it has to open additional beds to cope with increased demand.

When this happens, “every effort is made to ensure” the appropriate staffing levels are in place, either through additional shifts for staff, or redeployment from other areas, and the use of agency nurses and healthcare assistants.

The recruitment process for the new midwives is currently under way, according to the HSE, and “further localised advertising for the positions is to take place”.

However the numbers still fall short of what the INMO believes Mullingar needs, and Mr O’Neill said it appears in the face of the ongoing staff recruitment embargo, some hospitals are faring better in demands for more staff than others. He says 30-40 additional nurses are required, because the recruitment embargo has led to such a slide in numbers.

On one night lately, there were just two nurses on duty in a ward with 30 patients, he was told at the meeting.

“The norm would be three nurses and a healthcare assistant,” he states.

On day duty on that same ward, there should be five nurses and two healthcare assistants, but Mullingar can only have four nurses – one of whom is the ward manager.

“At ward level, there is no manager free to manage the ward,” says Mr O’Neill,

“We feel the HSE is in denial,” said Mr O’Neill.

“I am nursing nearly 20 years, and it’s among the worst cases I have ever seen.”

Mr O’Neill said that adding to the nurses’ concern is the fact that winter is coming, and no plans seem to have been put in place to cope with the additional influx of patients it will bring.

Added to that, the closure of the emergency department at Roscommon Hospital has, he says, effectively increased Mullingar’s catchment area, without an increase in staff.

The HSE statement said that hospital management work to manage staffing levels in the hospital and liaise with staff representative organisations on an ongoing basis in this regard.

The HSE said initiatives to support nursing staff throughout 2014 include:

• recruitment of additional health care assistants,

• sessional employment of aids to support one to one care

• conversion of agency nursing staff to permanent directly employed staff has been approved and the process has commenced

The management of MRHM acknowledges the dedication and commitment of its nursing and support staff and will continue to treat this issue as a priority and are continuing to work to maintain staffing levels and ensure that approved vacant posts are filled as quickly as is possible.