EDITORIAL 5
No pressure, no progress
Journalof the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation
World of Irish Nursing & Midwifery
(ISSN: 2009-4264) Volume 27 Number 8 October 2019 WIN, MedMedia Publications, 17 Adelaide Street, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin. Website: www.medmedia.ie
“No pressure, no progress.” This is a line from the recent book on the INMO’s first 100 years and the backing track to nursing and midwifery issues for the past decades. The HSE and wider government can be a slow-moving machine, resistant to forward planning and slow to make changes. All members will doubtlessly share the frustra- tion at just how slow that machine can be. But with pressure there can be progress. And thanks to the pressure of 40,000 nurses and midwives standing together in their union, we are making progress. New graduates faced serious difficul- ties in securing the full-time, permanent contracts which the Minister for Health had pledged. Issues remain in three work- places, but thanks to INMO pressure and representation, we have ensured that well over 1,100 graduates have received what they were promised and what our under- staffed service needs. We will continue to apply pressure until every single qualified graduate gets a full offer. The implementation of the strike set- tlement has shown a similar pattern. The HSE has stalled, the departments of Health and Public Expenditure have debated, and progress in implementation has been hin- dered by attempts to undo the gains you achieved. We have not tolerated this. We have relied on the strong recommenda- tion of the Labour Court and reverted to the Court to prevent any dilution. This has resulted in HSE instructions to offer higher-paid contracts to staff nurses and midwives, increase existing allowances by 20% and roll out allowances to maternity services, PHNs who don’t get allowances now, and surgical and medical areas. All of that will be backdated to March 1, 2019. FromNovember, staff nurses andmidwives with 17 years or more experience can access the senior staff nurse/midwife increment, whichwill mean basic pay exceeding €50,000 – before allowances and premiumpay. Recent figures obtained via Freedom of Information, show that between 2015 and 2019, 1,800 nurses and midwives were victims of assault in HSE hospitals. That is inextricably linked with staffing levels, overcrowding and underinvestment. The real figure is far higher, as many cases go
unreported and the figures do not include vol- untary, Section 39 and community services. This is part of the reason that 40,000 nurses and midwives sought funding for safe staffing in the strike. This again is now being rolled out. Following much pressure, draft implementation documents have been issued to the INMO, confirming a rollout of the Safe Staffing Framework to medical, sur- gical and emergency areas in – initially – the nine Model 4 hospitals. Once complete, that will continue to Model 2 and 3 hospitals. The staffing systemwill come with a new IT system for monitoring staffing and patient load, a specific budget line in the HSE, an oversight group to implement, and eight new safe staffing co-ordinators. Furthermore, the safe staffing framework will now apply to the community and elderly care. This is a signifi- cant issue for our members in these services, which are traditionally very understaffed and difficult to recruit to. We will continue to apply pressure – to lobby, campaign, meet, debate, publicise and protest – to improve the working conditions of our 40,000 members and to support a decent health service. That means working to end the government’s destructive and counterproductive recruitment pause, which wreaks havoc with careers, leaves services understaffed, and endangers patients – while increasing agency and litigation costs. We have had some success breaking pieces off the pause and securing appointments, but it is clear that the policy must go in its entirety across nursing and midwifery. Progress also means working through our strike settlement line by line, ensuring that every hard-won piece is implemented in full. It also means looking at the wider national context, which our pre-Budget submission covers. Be in no doubt that this union will continue to work on your behalf, combining the power and knowledge of 40,000 skilled, trained, respected professionals to achieve change. No pressure, no progress.
Editor Alison Moore Email: alison.moore@medmedia.ie Tel: 01 2710216 Production & news editor Tara Horan Sub-editor Max Ryan Designers Fiona Donohoe, Paula Quigley
Commercial director Leon Ellison Email: leon.ellison@medmedia.ie Tel: 01 2710218 Publisher Geraldine Meagan
WIN –World of Irish Nursing &Midwifery is published in conjunction with the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation by MedMedia Group , Specialists in Healthcare Publishing & Design.
Editor-in-chief: Phil Ní Sheaghdha INMO editorial board: Martina Harkin-Kelly; Catherine Sheridan; Eilish Fitzgerald, Kathryn Courtney, Ann Fahey INMO editors: Michael Pidgeon (michael.pidgeon@inmo.ie) Freda Hughes (freda.hughes@inmo.ie) INMO photographer: Lisa Moyles INMO correspondence to: Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, Whitworth Building, North Brunswick Street, Dublin 7.
Tel: 01 664 0600 Fax: 01 661 0466
Email: inmo@inmo.ie Website: www.inmo.ie
www.facebook.com/ irishnursesandmidwivesorganisation
Phil Ní Sheaghdha General Secretary, INMO
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