Majority of Irish nurses thought of leaving job in past month, INMO survey reveals

A majority of nurses in Ireland have thought of leaving nursing in the past month. 

That's according to a survey by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), which has revealed major concerns in the nursing sector across Ireland. 

The survey reveals nurses and midwives are concerned about how patient safety is being negatively impacted by staffing shortfalls, and that significant numbers have considered leaving their workplaces due to high levels of stress. 

According to the 2024 Work and Wellbeing Survey, 63% of respondents stated that they had considered leaving their work area over the last month, and of those 45% said this was mainly due to workplace stress. 

Seventy six percent of respondents stated their current staffing levels and skill mix did not meet the required clinical and patient demands in their work area. 

Over 90% of these respondents expressed concern that patient safety was at risk. 

More than half of respondents (54%) stated that they felt under pressure from their workplace to work additional hours/shifts, with 15% stating they worked more than 20 additional unpaid hours per month. 

The union also surveyed members on issues such as health and wellbeing, and their experiences of Long COVID, with responses revealing that more than 1 in 5 nurses and midwives (21.39%) stating they had attended their GP due to work-related stress and 1 in 8 respondents (12.57%) stated they had or had previously had Long COVID. 

INMO President Karen McGowan said, "These results very clearly show that nurses and midwives are struggling in today’s health service. 

"More than four years on from the start of the COVID pandemic, INMO members are still dealing with the effects in their workplaces, in their practice, and in their own health. Meanwhile the government has failed to make progress on hospital overcrowding, and conditions for staff and patients in many places has gotten far worse than we could have imagined.

"Not only is this situation not sustainable, but it is painfully clear from these survey results that the Irish health service and its staff are not in a position to ensure another crisis. These services and the people working in them, are hanging by a thread, and it’s frightening to think what would happen if they had to withstand another serious shock." 

INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said, "Every year our members fulfil their duty with regard to their patients and the services they provide, by raising the pressing issues that need to be addressed, and demonstrating the impact of inaction on their services and their patients. Year after year, they find that they are not being met halfway.

"We have clear data on the impact of unsafe staffing on patient outcomes; we have data on the relationship between overcrowding and whether or not patients will survive; and here we have clear figures saying nurses and midwives are extremely stressed, working unpaid hours, and leaving their jobs. 

"The failure to act on very clear data is simply irresponsible.

"INMO members know [they] cannot increase bed capacity or staffing quotas. They have reached the end of what they themselves can do to improve the services, and it is up to the government and the HSE to bring about these changes, or risk a collapse in the numbers of staff who are willing to work in Ireland, and catastrophic patient outcomes as a result." 

Over 50% of respondents stated they felt under pressure from their workplace to work additional hours/shifts, while only 6.92% of respondents said that they always left their shift on time. 

Almost 70% of respondents reported that their work was impacting their physical health, while over half of the respondents (54.56%) said that they always or very often felt physically exhausted.

Over 55% of respondents stated that their work was emotionally exhausting to a high or very high degree, and 49% felt burnt out because of work to a very high degree or to a high degree.

Seventy percent of respondents stated that they felt worn out at the end of the working day to a high degree to very high degree.

Over half of respondents stated they felt exhausted in the morning at the thought of another day at work to a high degree to a very high degree.

Almost 40% of respondents stated that they felt that every working hour was tiring for them.