asked the Minister for Health whether he is aware that senior nursing personnel in mental hospitals in Dublin are remunerated on a scale much in excess of that applicable to equivalent posts in the provinces; whether this is in accordance with the national agreement; and whether he will take steps to have the scales equalised.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Mental Hospital Nursing Personnel.
20.
Present salary scales paid to senior nursing officers in provincial mental hospitals are in accord with an arbitration award made last year. The award retained the existing salary grading according to hospital population, namely (a) hospitals with up to 1,000 patients, and (b) hospitals with over 1,000 patients. In some of the mental hospitals of the Dublin Health Authority, the salaries payable are the same as in corresponding provincial mental hospitals but in the other two, Grangegorman and Portrane, where the senior nursing officers have enjoyed, traditionally, somewhat higher salaries than their opposite numbers in provincial mental hospitals, higher salaries are payable.
I have not received proposals from the authorities of any of the provincial mental hospitals for the application, in them, of the Grangegorman/Portrane scales. In the absence of such proposals, I have not considered the matter.