Molly Hutchinson
22nd April 2009
22nd April 2009
At a meeting with HSE Senior Management yesterday morning, the Irish Nurse's Organisation (INO) stated that “the draft Circular proposing severe staff cutbacks to the public health service, was totally unacceptable and would be vehemently opposed".
The cutbacks announced plans to stop the renewal of over 14,000 contracts in the health sector. The INO announced yesterday that this would affect over 6,000 nursing jobs including 700 full time staff nurses.
INO general secretary Liam Doran and Impact national secretary Kevin Callinan said they strongly refuted HSE claims that front line services would not be affected.
Liam Doran said, “The staffing cuts proposed by this draft Circular would render the delivery of safe care, to patients and clients, impossible."
"Local managers would no longer have the authority to ensure safe and adequate staffing levels and, furthermore, would be threatened with disciplinary action if they did not adhere to the terms of the Circular," he added.
He continued by saying “While the INO recognises the severe financial challenge facing the government in managing the public finances, we will not accept, or cooperate with, the introduction of staffing cuts in frontline services which will inevitably cause unsafe practice and a reduction in the quality of care available to patients".
No comments:
Post a Comment