NURSING UNION CRITICISES MINISTERS COMMENTS ON ABSENTEEISM IN GALWAY

Date Published: 06-Oct-2010

Nursing representatives say the Health Minister is totally out of touch with the pressures on front line staff at Galway hospitals.

Last evening, Minister Mary Harney criticised absenteeism rates at Galway University Hospitals, which she says is costing more than 140 thousand euro a week.

She also said that the level of absenteeism, at 7 percent, is twice what it should be.

General Secretary of the Irish Nurses an Midwives Organisation, Liam Doran, says the Health Minister doesn’t understand the pressures nurses are under.

Meanwhile, nurses working in Galway are being redeployed to other hospitals as beds and wards in health facilities are closed due to financial cutbacks.

In the past fortnight, the INMO has agreed with the re-deployment of nurses from hospitals in Galway, Dundalk and Croom.