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Updated 1pm
NURSES AT THE Mater are calling for the Dublin hospital to be taken off-call for emergencies due to overcrowding at the ED.
45 patients were waiting on trolleys in the emergency department this morning, according to nursing union the INMO.
The union says it’s “extremely concerned” at the situation in the emergency department in particular and in the hospital in general.
According to a statement:
“There are currently 100 staff nurse vacancies in the Mater Hospital. The INMO is not satisfied that the hospital has adhered to the agreed escalation policy for dealing with severe overcrowding.
“The INMO is meeting with management today and an emergency meeting of INMO members will take place thereafter.”
TheJournal.ie has contacted the Mater for comment.
Beaumont
This afternoon’s development comes after nurses at another Dublin hospital, Beaumont, voted to engage in a work-to-rule the week before Christmas over concerns about staffing.
Nurses at the hospital have given the required three weeks notice and will begin the work-to-rule on 16 December.
Lorraine Monaghan, INMO industrial relations officer, told Morning Ireland that nurses have voted overwhelming in favour of the action due to “very unsafe staffing levels”, noting that there are 45 vacancies across 14 wards/units at the hospital.
Monaghan said it is “impossible to deliver safe patient care in these conditions”.
She said staff members have highlighted the issues with management for some time and have been “left with no other choice”.
Some 99% of members have voted in favour of industrial action.
During the work-to-rule patient care will not be affected, but non-essential and clerical administration work will not be carried out.
Monaghan said the industrial action will continue “until the situation is addressed”. Management need to “rethink their strategy” she added.
“If they can’t recruit they need to close beds … staffing levels have been decimated.”
Trying to attract new staff
In a statement, Beaumont Hospital said it has been “consistently working with the INMO regarding current vacancies and has developed a strategic recruitment campaign which targets nurses nationally and internationally”.
The hospital says it has also partnered with a number of large academic teaching hospitals in Dublin and is advertising through a variety of media as part of its recruitment campaign.
The statement continues:
Beaumont Hospital is retaining and attracting a higher number of graduates. Of the 56 undergraduates who qualified from Beaumont in 2015, 46 accepted pre-registration positions and a further nine joined Beaumont from other hospitals.
“Beaumont Hospital has been engaging with unions on a strategy to attract and retain additional nursing staff.”
There are currently 43 vacancies across surgical and medical in Beaumont. This number can fluctuate depending on a number of external factors.
“Beaumont Hospital has one of the busiest EDs (emergency departments) in Ireland, providing services to over 50,000 patients each year.”
With reporting by Daragh Brophy.
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9 of the 12 Irish MEPs supported the position of the Irish Air Line Pilots Association.
Europe has disregarded the advice of its own scientific advisors, and missed out on an opportunity to produce scientifically based rules in favour of commercial interests.
It’s a sad day for aviation safety!
I thought pilots could only fly a maximum of 900 hours per year , why does the above say a reduction from 1300 hours to 1000 hours?
What was advice?
Does this not mean shorter working year for pilots? Good for FTE bad for contract?
Once again those unaccountable pen pushers delve into industries they know nothing about, this is bad for passengers and pilots alike. The winners are arsehole airline management who will award themselves bonuses and politicians creating busywork for themselves. All the scientifically based rest and ftl rules go in the bin.
Pilot can fly for 11 hours, truck driver can only drive a max of 10. Somethings not well thought out.
but in fairness no auto pilot on a truck and only one driver
At least if a truck has an emergency just pull over to the side of the road not the same for aircraft . And some air operations are single pilot.
And a doctor can work for 36 hours.
Commercial airlines have few single pilot. Do ialpa want hours flying even lower … is that why they object?
If you understood what commercial flying is, you would know that all commercial pilots operating with companies with an AOC are bound by JAR-FCL which is the same as airline pilots.
You are correct I don’t know the technical definition of commercial as I don’t work in the industry. But as a layman reading the article my take is that iapla want even further reductions and restrictions on flying time which would require more pilots to run a schedule. No doubt a pay cut isn’t part of their plans. Contract pilots likely to increase at progressive airlines. One layman’s view only.
Have the airline pilots been asked for their opinion on the rule changes and if not why not, judging by their negative reaction it seems not, but now the EU have once again gone ahead and changed the rules without consultation.
So the cost will just go up
What people have to remember regarding pilots hours is they are calculated from off blocks (plane pushed off stand) to on blocks plane arrives at the gate.
You then need to factor in taxi delays ATC flow restrictions,Turn around times of the aircraft and also the pre flight which normally is 1 hour prior to departure+post flight debriefing.
Worst case: try driving your family laden car up rough slippery track into your unlit garage at speed on a dark wet night after 11 hours on the road…
I hope the people that brought this in will be on board when the accident happens, pure madness
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