'Dangerous' - Portlaoise hospital staff warn HSE about unsafe recruitment ban at Laois hospital

HSE top brass have been given stark warnings about damage being caused to staff and the knock-on risks for patients of Portlaoise hospital that the executive's recruitment containment strategy is having on the service.

Healthcare workers from several trade unions took to the streets of Laois united in protest at Portlaoise hospital at what they believe is a ban on recruitment disguised as the Pay and Numbers Strategy.

With a General Election looming, hundreds of nurses and their fellow healthcare workers gathered for a public protest at the ongoing implementation of the Pay and Numbers Strategy. The workers view the strategy as a continued implementation of the controversial recruitment embargo.

Clare Walsh is a nurse on the frontline in Portlaoise hospital working in the Emergency Department. She explained that staff who leave the ED (A&E) are not being replaced due to the HSE Strategy. She says this is happening against the backdrop of rising patient presentation.

"Our numbers have gone up dramatically in the last two years. We are seeing an average of between 120 and 180 patients in 24 hours. She said this compares to no more than 90 a day before the pandemic hit five years ago.

"We are thankful to senior management to get agency staff to be able to get agency staff but we would love to be able to train up our nurses as ED nurses for the safety of our patients," he said. MORE BELOW PICTURE.

She said complaints from the public have risen due to longer waiting times.

"Historically, we would not have had long waiting times. We would have had patients coming to us from Limerick, Wicklow, Kildare to our ED because our waiting times were less but now our waiting times are starting to rise because of the amount of patients who are coming through each day," she said.

She said population growth in Portlaoise is also causing pressure on the service which she said is 'always under scrutiny'.

"The biggest thing is that patients are kept safe and we do not have a situation like in Limerick on our hands," she said.

Ms Walsh added that politicians are not aware of the problems.

"It doesn't register with them. I've had them at my door canvassing and brought up the Pay and Numbers strategy and been told what they have done for the hospital but we can't staff the hospital. They looked at me like they didn't know when the Pay and Numbers Strategy was," she said.  

Moira Lafferty was one of the INMO reps at the protest. She is the Pay and Numbers strategy has wiped out existing agreements with nurses and midwives that allowed directors of nursing and midwifery to hire staff. 

She said there were 34.5 and 22 midwifery vacancies in Portlaoise hospital.

"This is impacting our services and stretching the services to the limit. We want safe staffing in the hospital an want it underpinned by legislation," she said. MORE BELOW PICTURE.

Claire Cunningham is a staff nurse at the hospital and the chair of the Laois branch of the INMO. 

"It's like robbing Peter to pay Paul. Some days are horrendous. You don't have enough staff. It's like a balloon that is ready to burst. You can't reach on everything. Mistakes can happen because people miss things. You don't get to care for people that you should be. There is no safe staffing but you can't do your job unless its safe," she said.

She said hospital staff were made a lot of promises after a protest before the last General Election in 2019.

"I work in paediatrics and to this day, we do not have a safe staffing ratio in paediatrics," she said.

She added that this was similar in many other services including the much-scrutinised maternity services which she said is now understaffed with midwives.

Carly Payne works as a midwife in the hospital's maternity. She has a stark message for HSE management and the public about the services delivered in unit due to staff shortages. 

"Dangerous," was the one-word answer from Ms Payne when asked what is it like in the maternity ward.

"We are short-staffed, overworked and not getting the support and the skill mix is not there that we need," he said.

He said midwifes are not able to give pregnant women the time they deserve when they come into deliver a baby.

"Becoming a mother is scary and you need help," she said.

Ms Payne felt that despite the unit being overhauled due to historical problems, the public remains 'nervous' about the Laois maternity service. 

"This means we have the double workload of having to deliver a high standard of care without the staff to give that high standard of care," she said.

The nurses said HSE management can not claim to not be aware of the problems and risks to patient care as everything has been flagged in writing.

Ron Russell is also an INMO member, who works in perioperative and was on the protest line. He dismissed the Pay and Numbers strategy as "an embargo by another name".

He explained how it is manifesting itself.

"They are not replacing key staff. They are making hospital departments compete with each other. It is interfering with patient care and staff relationships and is putting staff under stress.

"We are haemorrhaging staff not just in Portlaoise but across the whole nursing service. People are going to overseas to Australia and Canada and why wouldn't you," he said.

He said nurses are being redeployed to departments outside their field of nursing expertise.

"When you move them around they're like pawns on a chessboard which is not far to them or their patients," he said. 

Dermot Ging is a Spitu member who works on the Emo Court medical ward. He said it is extremely busy with staff numbers down and other not able to work due to the stress caused by the pressure of work.

"The whole thing is unpredictable," he said. 

She said patients get "absolutely frustrated" because the recognise that there are staff shortages. 

He said that there could be 26 patients on a ward with just one staff member assigned to provide health care support to nurses. He added that the carer's ability to support nurses might be restricted by the fact that they may have to be assigned to a single patient. MORE BELOW PICTURE.

Mr Ging, who has worked in the hospital for a decade, said nurses are "run off their feet mentally and physically". 

"It's just not good enough," he said.

Regina McCormack has worked as a Health Care Assistant (HCA) for nearly 20 years in the hospital. She has seen expectations on staff grow significantly over 20 years.

"The workload has doubled. There is not enough posts and sick levels are at an all time high because staff are getting burned out with the extra workload. That means more work for the staff left behind - it's a domino effect.

"You are trying to 100% care and you can't give it because the staff are not there to give it so there is a downfall in a lot of areas like patient care, hygiene, food," she said.

Her colleague Pat Lalor, is Siptu shop steward since 1992 and he has worked at the hospital since 1980. He said the HSE is now suppressing recruitment by not filling posts that were left vacant during the full recruitment embargo.

He also felt the huge population growth in the Laois hospital's patient catchment is not being reflected in the facility's staffing level.

Apart from the impact on their own health, the workers warned that the recruitment restriction causes dangerous risks for patients in all parts of the hospital.

Derrick McCormack is also a Siptu member who is an MTA in the isolation ward having worked at the hospital for 21 years. He hs notice a change demands on staff.

"Over the last five six years I've notice a big difference in the pressure management have been putting on staff and not replacing people. When a person retires or has been out sick for a long time, the position is left vacant," he said.

 He argued that the recruitment embargo was imposed by the HSE's CEO on the service. He also claimed that thousands of people were recruited from overseas while there was supposed to have been an embargo in operation.

"I found that odd and unfair," he said.

He said he and other services on the ground hear concerns from patients constantly about the impact on care. He said isolation ward services have suffered due to staff shortages.

"It can be a bit chaotic," he said.

He said staff cannot sustain what is currently being asked of them. MORE BELOW PICTURE.

Brendan O'Sullivan and Hugh O'Byrne are members of the Medical Laboratory Scientists Association (MLSA). They work in the laboratory of Portlaoise hospital which operates round the clock every day of the year. Not alone does the lab process tests and samples for the hospital, it also provides invaluable testing for GPs and nursing homes. They are among 35 staff working in the Laois hospital's labs. 

They are frustrated as the claim that up to six permanent jobs that are vacant with agency staff filling in.

"Staff wise it is poor. We need more staff and there is a reluctance, it seems, on the employer's behalf to provide those staff.  Despite the fact the recruitment embargo is officially over, we know those jobs have officially disappeared," said Mr O'Sullivan. 

He said staff shortage puts pressure on existing workers which impacts their safety and well-being and in turn raises concerns for patient safety. 

Mr O'Byrne added that apart from delivering services, staff are also required to do 'a huge amount of work' to retain compliance with quality standards which must be reached to retain ISO accreditation.  MORE BELOW PICTURE.

Linda Kelly is the National Secretary of the big Forsá trade union. She attended the protest where she said 93% of her members around Ireland have voted to take industrial action over the Pay and Numbers Strategy.

"That is an overwhelming mandate and should serve as a wake-up call to senior management. You cannot staff services with an embargo by decommissioning thousands of posts or by putting in place employment ceilings," she said.

Ms Kelly said her members in Portlaoise and other hospitals are upset.

"People are very distressed because they know that the services are suffering. They know that people are not getting access to the services they need and they feel they are the face of that and they have to stand over it but the staff are saying no, that's not good enough. To be honest, I would say it's frustration, distress and anger," she said.