This article is from page 7 of the 2006-03-28 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 7 JPG
NURSES in Ennis, Limerick and Nenagh are carrying personal alarms following numerous attacks on staff in hospitals across the region and country.
The Irish Nurses’ Organisation (INO) this week confirmed that all nurses in the Accident and Emergency Departments of the Mid Western Regional Hospitals in Ennis, Limerick and Nenagh carried the alarms, while other staff could request them.
INO representative for the Mid Western Area, Mary Fogarty, told The Clare People that alarms were particularly necessary for nurses who are working after other staff had finished, making them more vulnerable.
“You could be isolated in a ward and one lash could knock you to the floor,” she said.
She said all hospitals were very public areas, with a lot of frustrated people and relatives visiting.
They were also open 24 hours a day, allowing people to come and go.
Ms Fogarty said that she hoped management would continue to review security in the hospitals, especially after incidents.
Meanwhile, the INO and the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) held a meeting on Thursday last, in advance of a Labour Relations Commission conciliation conference, scheduled for April 3.
The conference will discuss eight claims which the unions have lodged on behalf of nurses and midwives.
The unions clam that it will take 21 years for this year’s honours nursing graduates to achieve the same pay as qualified and unqualified childcare workers. The unions are also calling for a 35-hour week.
In 1980, the Labour Court, stated that because of the nature of their work and the stressful environment in which it was performed, nurses and midwives should benefit from a reduced working week.
Nurses and midwives are the only
officer grades of the health serv ice who work longer than 35 hours per week, according to the INO and PNA.
In a joint statement, the INO and PNA stated their committment to maintaining industrial peace and had no intention of breaking Sustaining Progress, but would not tolerate “the no comment approach adopted by the previous Benchmarking Body in the past.”