"We are looking for pay parity, not pay increases" say nurses on the picket line
"You come in sometimes in the morning and you're actually dreading the day, wondering if you're going to be staffed adequately," Claire McLoughlin, INMO member and secretary of the local branch in Mullingar, told the Westmeath Examiner on Wednesday, the day of the nationwide nurses strike.
She and her colleagues are picketing outside Mullingar Hospital, joining with thousands across the country, all looking for pay parity and safe staffing conditions.
"We are looking for pay parity, not pay increases" she points out. "We are 12.5% less paid than other healthcare professions such as dieticians, OTs, physios, radiographers, etc." Claire explains.
She adds that there is currently a deficit of 3,500 nurses in the country. "The newly qualified nurses who are educated here are leaving this country to go to other countries for better pay and conditions."
Working in Ward 4, an acute ward for medical and surgical patients, it also operates as an overflow when the ED is very busy, says Claire.
"Currently we've only two staff nurses in this department, we can have between 12 - 14 patients depending on how busy it is in the ED.
"We are given so many tasks to do that are not even nursing duties such as portering duties, getting wheelchairs, phlebotomy - we are doing the bloods ourselves, ECGs, even the day-to-day managing of the ward.
"Lots of nurses, especially the senior staff nurses, are leaving because of this increased pressure. You come in sometimes in the morning and you're actually dreading the day, wondering if you're going to be staffed adequately.
"As a nurse we look after patients to a very high standard, but on a days we are short staffed, this care is being jeopardised through no fault of our own.
"It is an extremely difficult position to be in. A lot of senior nurses as I said, are going for different jobs outside of nursing because they can't actually deal with the stress."
- Read more in the Westmeath Examiner.