Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Yesterday, the Irish Nurses Organisation called on the Health Service Executive to take immediate action to resolve the ongoing nursing shortage being experienced by Kerry General Hospital. According to the organisation, the current shortage is so acute that hospital management depends on existing members of staff to work on their days off to ensure that some level of staffing is maintained. Despite the goodwill and co-operation of staff, wards are understaffed on a daily basis and, therefore, the level of care that can be given to patients is potentially compromised.

Kerry General Hospital is so under-resourced that it cannot conceivably continue to deliver the present level of service. Services will have to be curtailed if a commitment to provide additional nursing posts is not given. The industrial relations officer of the INO, Mr. Michael Dineen, said yesterday:

Our members within KGH are under severe pressure to deliver an appropriate level of care to the patients in their charge due to staff shortages. If the present position continues it will only exacerbate the difficulties being experienced as nurses will inevitably leave rather than continue to work in the current environment.

I fully support the INO's call for action to be taken in respect of this serious problem. It is unacceptable that nurses at Kerry General Hospital have to work under such stretched staffing arrangements. The nurses' level of commitment has been extraordinary, considering the demanding circumstances and constant pressures of their work environment. Services at Kerry General Hospital will be curtailed if the Health Service Executive does not provide the necessary additional nursing posts immediately.

The level of understaffing at Kerry General Hospital stems from the failure to take the need for a relief component into account when staffing arrangements were being made at the hospital. I understand that a hospital's nursing staff relief component is usually 25% of the total nursing staff level, which is 408 in the case of Kerry General Hospital. When one considers the need for a relief component, therefore, the hospital should have between 490 and 500 nursing staff. I understand that provision is made for a relief component at all other hospitals.

There will be no student nurses working at Kerry General Hospital this year, because the nursing diploma programme has become a four-year degree programme. Therefore, fewer members of staff will be available to cover for absent colleagues. A number of temporary staff have been made permanent. The relief component should be put in place to ensure that sufficient numbers of staff are available to cover annual leave, sick leave, maternity leave etc.

The hospital saved a significant amount of money by failing to provide for the relief component when it was determining staffing levels. As a consequence, however, it has to make considerable overtime payments to approximately 45 or 50 nurses each day. I understand that the recommendations contained in an independent review produced by Ms Betty Brady in November 2001 were never implemented. While an implementation group was established in 2001, it ceased to exist the following year when various changes were made in the 2002 budget and it became clear that it was impossible to invest extra resources in staffing.

There are major problems in the accident and emergency unit at Kerry General Hospital. The hospital's maternity unit needs to be extended. All sectors of the hospital are under pressure. I am sure the Minister of State will give us the HSE's line that the hospital has its full complement of nurses, but that is simply not the case. The INO would not have made such a strong statement if it were the case. The nurses at Kerry General Hospital are totally frustrated. On their behalf, I call on the Minister of State to act immediately to ensure that there are adequate staffing levels at Kerry General Hospital, just as there are at every other hospital in the country.

Tim O'Malley (Limerick East, Progressive Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I thank Deputy Deenihan for raising this matter. I will respond to his comments on behalf of the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney. A nurse from Listowel who has worked in the United States for eight years recently contacted me in Limerick because she wishes to work as a nurse in this country. She qualified as a general nurse in the US and worked in cardiac services in New York. It is unfortunate that her qualification, which was accepted in New York, is not acceptable in Ireland.

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

She is a relation of mine.

Tim O'Malley (Limerick East, Progressive Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I am delighted. I hope we will be able to work together.

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Absolutely.

Tim O'Malley (Limerick East, Progressive Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Under the Health Act 2004, which provided for the establishment of the Health Service Executive on 1 January 2005, the HSE is responsible for managing and delivering, or arranging to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. Therefore, the HSE is responsible for nurse staffing at Kerry General Hospital. I am aware of the concerns raised by the Irish Nurses Organisation about nursing staff levels at the hospital. I have been informed that the southern area of the HSE has offered to meet INO representatives in the near future to discuss the hospital's staffing issues.

I understand that Kerry General Hospital is staffed in line with its authorised ceiling of 408 whole-time equivalent nurses. I have been informed that there is one unfilled permanent post. There are some temporary vacancies, however, as a consequence of sick leave, maternity leave and other forms of absence. Recruitment efforts are ongoing for temporary nurses. In the meantime, such short-term vacancies are covered from within the existing staffing complement. I understand that services in Kerry General Hospital continue to be delivered at normal levels.

The recruitment and retention of adequate numbers of nursing staff has been a concern of the Government for some time. Some substantial measures, including major investment in the training of additional nurses, have been introduced in recent years. The Tánaiste opened the new school of nursing at Tralee Institute of Technology, for which capital funding of €11 million has been provided, earlier this month. The school can accommodate 320 undergraduate nursing students. Annual revenue funding of approximately €4.5 million has been provided for such a number of students. The first degree students, who will graduate in the autumn of 2006, should help to ensure that there are adequate numbers of nursing staff at Kerry General Hospital.

Some of the measures taken by the Government in recent years have produced positive results at national level. There has been a net increase of more than 7,000 whole-time equivalent nurses since 1999. That represents an increase of 26% in the nursing and midwifery workforce in the public health service. The level of turnover of nursing staff has also declined. The most recent national turnover study, which covered the years between 1999 and 2003, showed that the level of turnover decreased by 40% over the five-year period.

I am confident that the extensive range of measures taken by the Government and the management of the health service, as well as the close monitoring and assessment of the situation on an ongoing basis, will continue to address effectively the nursing workforce needs of Kerry General Hospital and the wider health service.