HSE Document on Nursing/Midwifery Rosters

To:  All INMO Members

From:    Liam Doran, General Secretary

NURSING/MIDWIFERY ROSTERS


Dear Colleague

The Executive Council, at its meeting last week, was advised that a small number of managements, at local level, were seeking to introduce changes to existing rosters without agreement.

It would appear that these managements are stating that the Croke Park Agreement gives them the right to introduce new rosters without local consultation and agreement.

As you know this is factually incorrect and any, and all, changes to rosters, or other local arrangements or conditions of employment, must be the subject of prior consultation leading to agreement or referral to a third party.

In view of this, and to protect the interests of all members, the Executive Council has asked that this directive (click here) be photocopied, displayed on all noticeboards and left in all wards/units.  

If you have any questions of queries, on this issue, please contact your local IRO immediately.

Thank you, in advance, for your full co-operation with this request.

Yours sincerely
 
LIAM DORAN
General Secretary

Members Update

Re: NURSING/MIDWIFERY ROSTERS - 11 November 2011
 

Dear Colleague

I refer again to recent media coverage, arising from comments from the Minister and the HSE, regarding the current format of rosters, for nurses and midwives, and the alleged need for change.

This matter was further considered by this Organisation’s Executive Council, at its meeting on Tuesday, 8th November 2011, particularly in the context of the Croke Park Agreement.

In addition, at the Executive Council meeting, further feedback was received of incidents, in a small number of hospitals, where management had said, in recent days, rosters would be changed; did staff not hear what the Minister had said? and that there would be no debate on the matter.

Against this background I have been directed by the Executive Council to bring the following to the attention of all members immediately:

1. There has been no discussion, at national level, with regard to any changes/ alterations to the existing rosters of nurses and midwives.

2. Management did not seek discussions, with regard to rosters, at the recent meeting of the Health Service National Joint Council (the national forum for industrial relations in the health service) on Tuesday, 8th November 2011.

3. It is therefore totally incorrect and misleading for management, in any individual hospital/workplace, to suggest, or infer, that agreement exists and existing rosters can be changed.

4. In any situation where local management approach INMO representatives, or members, seeking to change existing rosters they should, immediately, be referred to the local INMO Industrial Relations Officer.  No discussions on rosters should commence, without overt INMO involvement, and, obviously, without their being explicit agreement, from the INMO, to any change in existing rosters.

5. It remains our view that these media comments, from the Minister and the HSE, are primarily aimed at distracting attention away from the acute shortage of nursing/midwifery posts, currently facing the health service, which they are unwilling to acknowledge or address.

6. Equally they are unwilling to acknowledge or address the clinical risks which now arise, on a daily basis, as a direct result of the shortage of nursing and midwifery staff in the frontline.

All members are asked to note, and adhere to, the foregoing advice and not to agree to any changes, of existing rosters, at local level unless, and until, they have been the subject of detailed discussions, involving the INMO, and have been explicitly agreed prior to introduction/implementation.

Thank you for your attention to, and distribution of, this important note to all members in all wards/workplaces.

Yours sincerely



_________________________
LIAM DORAN
General Secretary

 

Members Update

Re: HSE Document on Nursing/Midwifery Rosters 13th October 2011

Dear Member,

I refer to media coverage, this evening, of a document produced by the HSE concerning changes to nursing/midwifery rosters.

In relation to this matter all members are asked to note the following:

1. This document has not been the subject of any discussion involving the INMO;

2. It has been published purely in an attempt to distract attention away from the acute shortage of nursing/midwifery posts, currently facing the health service, which the HSE is unwilling to acknowledge or address; and,

3. The chronic overcrowding problems facing Emergency Departments and in-patient wards, and the resulting risk to patient care, can only be addressed by the deployment of additional nursing/midwifery manpower.

The INMO will continue to demand a safe environment for patients, where nurses and midwives can practice safely, and we will not be distracted from this goal by any actions of the HSE which seek to ignore the major clinical risks existing at this time.

In relation to the on-going campaign, to secure a safe clinical environment in the Emergency Department of the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick, the INMO will be attending further talks, under the auspices of the Labour Relations Commission, which have been arranged for next Tuesday, October 18th.

Finally, as we have consistently advised, members should immediately contact the INMO if any attempt is made by local management to change existing rosters without agreement.

Yours sincerely

Liam Doran
General Secretary