Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 4 Dec 1996

Vol. 472 No. 4

Adjournment Debate. - Louth County Hospital.

Mr. Kirk

I wish to share my time with Deputies Dermot Ahern and Brendan McGahon.

I raise this issue because of the serious disruption in the Louth County Hospital owing to the work to rule which has been in place for some time and is the culmination of frustration with the serious staff shortages which exist in the hospital. The nursing union there reckons there is a need for more than 20 additional staff. Over recent years different consultancy responsibilities have been added to the range of services with no corresponding increase in the number of nurses. There has been a significant increase in the volume of work with the same level of staff expected to cope with it.

Patients are being turned away from the hospital. They are angry that because of the disruption they are unable to get very necessary medical treatment. There is an urgent need for the Minister for Health to intervene in the dispute. There is a danger that the matter could escalate resulting in a further deterioration in the services available at the hospital. I appeal to the Minister to intervene as soon as possible.

Mr. D. Ahern

I thank the Chair for allowing us to raise this issue and my colleague for sharing his time.

There is considerable anxiety among patients and their relatives. Normal nursing duties are being done but other duties, such as answering phones, are not because of the work to rule. Hysterectomy operations are being postponed at a considerable rate and patients are required to go on hormone treatment at very high cost until they can have their operations. A series of clinics have been cancelled, and this has caused extreme anxiety for patients who are about to undergo operations.

I am aware the Department of Health is taking a keen interest in this matter because I tabled a parliamentary question last week to which I received a reply yesterday. I exhort the Minister to ensure he and the health board pull out all the stops to settle this dispute. There have been some improvements regarding consultancy staff in the hospital but there has not been an improvement in the level of back-up staff. That is necessary and has to be acknowledged to be necessary by the health board and the Department of Health.

Mr. McGahon

I join my constituency colleagues in expressing concern about the curtailment of services in Louth County Hospital. As a recent inmate in the hospital, I am aware of the shortage of staff, and the pressure under which existing staff work. I am acutely aware of the huge contribution they make to the high standard of care available in Louth. I also acknowledge the improvements made in the past few years by the health board and the present Minister, Deputy Noonan. Not only is the continued existence of the hospital guaranteed, the health board has recently built an extension to the hospital and has upgraded the facilities, creating a more congenial environment for patients and nurses alike.

Nevertheless, the nurses, particularly the night staff, work under extreme pressure to cope with the increased rate of admissions resulting from the upgrading of the hospital. There is a great need, in the largest town in Ireland, to have contented nursing staff working without stress. I appeal to the Minister to urge the health board to compromise and to resolve this matter. I understand from speaking to the health board today that it hopes for a breakthrough in this dispute.

Mr. Currie

I thank the three Deputies from Louth for raising this matter. Such unity augurs well for the future of Louth County Hospital.

The management of health services, including the employment of staff, is a matter, in the first instance, for each health agency. The individual health boards are in the best position to determine how best to deploy their personnel having due regard to the different priorities and service requirements throughout their area of responsibility. The deployment of staff within deployment ceilings and budget at Louth County Hospital, Dundalk is thus a matter, in the first instance, for the North-Eastern Health Board.

The issue of strengthening staffing levels at particular locations is one considered by the health boards on a regular basis within the general context of balancing all service development priorities with the total amount of available funding. In the normal course, staffing levels for individual hospitals and units within hospitals are adjusted to take account of overall service demands. The North-Eastern Health Board received approval for 74 additional posts to date in 1996. With specific regard to nursing staff, the number of nursing staff employed by the North-Eastern Health Board has increased by some 10 per cent from the end of 1991 to the end of 1995. This increase is in line with the increase in nursing staff levels across the health sector. The dispute in Louth County Hospital, Dundalk relates to a demand by the Irish Nurses' Organisation for a significant number of additional nursing posts. Any disruption of the health services is a matter of deep regret to me and, I am sure, to all public representatives. In this case, the action by the nurses involved includes withdrawal from what they consider to be non-nursing duties, refusal to co-operate with the hospital information system and refusal to take internal calls. That action has culminated in the necessity to cancel elective surgery and, since Monday last, outpatient appointments.

There have been several meetings between the Irish Nurses' Organisation and health board management. The most recent meeting was held yesterday afternoon. The health board has made proposals to the union which involve the immediate provision of additional nursing and non-nursing resources at Dundalk. This offer was made at a meeting yesterday evening. The Irish Nurses' Organisation and staff are due to consider the offer at a general meeting scheduled for this evening. They are probably meeting as I speak.

Given that progress is now being made between both sides, I hope the matter can be resolved and expect that industrial action will be discontinued now that both sides are urgently seeking a resolution.