Nurses suspend industrial action at Naas General Hospital

Nurses at Naas General Hospital have suspended their industrial action after “lengthy negotiations” which “intensified” on Friday evening.

Members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) had been engaged in a work-to-rule industrial action at the hospital since Monday over “unacceptable and unsafe staffing deficits”.

It said there had been a failure to fill maternity leave vacancies, as well as a failure to increase staffing to meet a more than 25% increase in Emergency Department attendance at the hospital in the past three years.

In a statement on Friday evening, the union said 60 vacant nursing posts would immediately be backfilled and an additional 30 would be created to “cover additional services”.

It added: “A full review of all nurse staffing will begin at the hospital this week against the safe staffing framework.”

The statement added that the Dispute Committee at the hospital has recommended members are balloted on the proposals next week.

At a protest on Friday afternoon, INMO general secretary Phil Ni Sheaghdha said the “very busy” hospital had seen a “massive increase” in Emergency Department attendances.

The area, which is seeing population growth generally, also contains nursing homes that are increasingly dealing with people from Dublin that rely on Naas General Hospital when they become unwell.

She told the Press Association: “All in all, the staffing has not kept pace with the population and the demand on services in the hospital.”

Ms Ni Sheaghdha said the issue has been going on for years, leading to patients being cared for in inappropriate areas.

At the protest, Emergency Department clinical facilitator Zoe Cleary said: “Our staff are on their hands and knees.

“They’re expected to do workloads of multiple additional people

“There’s huge burnout, there’s huge stress, and there’s a huge problem with retaining staff.”

Following the suspension of the industrial action, the INMO said: “The nurses in Naas General Hospital appreciate the immense amount of support they received from the public in Naas and the wider Kildare area this week, particularly during lunchtime protests.”

Prior to its suspension the HSE had said it regretted the industrial action and said it had taken efforts to resolve the issues raised.

The HSE said there had been “significant growth” in the workforce of the hospital in recent years, adding that there are further plans to “progress longer-term measures to support and strengthen nursing capacity”.