Ned O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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Question 394: To ask the Minister for Health and Children when the agreed reduced working week in respect of nursing staff will be fully implemented (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23448/08]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The National Implementation Body (NIB) in its statement dated 15 May 2007 proposed a two phase approach to the claim for reduced hours for nurses/midwives.

Under Phase 1, the NIB proposed a reduction from a 39 hour to a 37.5 hour working week by 1 June 2008. This reduction was to be achieved on a cost neutral basis and without diminution of service to patients on the basis of:

The package of measures would be based on the parameters for change, especially in rosters, skill mix and other productivity measures, which have been discussed at national level during the NIB talks;

Individual service locations would draw up a package of local changes which would enable the initial reduction in working hours to be implemented on a cost neutral basis in a manner which reflected the nature of the service being delivered in that location;

The Health Service Performance Verification Group (HSPVG) would provide an independent validation process to confirm that the changes planned for each location were sufficient to support the initial reduction and to verify delivery of these changes in advance of the target date for the reduction;

and the initial reduction would be implemented in each location on foot of such verification.

Under Phase 2, a Commission was to be established to produce an independent assessment of how a 35 hour week for nurses can be achieved. This Commission, which commenced work in March 2008, is expected to report in December. I have fully supported the efforts to introduce the 37.5 hour week for all nurses/midwives within the parameters set by the NIB. I have held regular meetings with senior management and union representatives to review progress in the achievement of this initial reduction in hours. I convened a special national conference last month at which representatives of service providers who had successfully concluded agreement shared best practice with those where agreement was still outstanding.

There are approximately 37,850 whole time equivalent nurses/midwives in the public health service. By the target date of 1 June 2008, local agreements had been reached at 62 locations covering some 10,363 nurses and midwives (approximately 27% of the total) and these had been validated by the HSPVG.

The NIB met with nursing unions and management representatives on 4 June to consider the implementation of the reduction in nursing hours under Phase I. It recommended that an immediate review of the problems arising in locations where agreement has not yet been possible should be carried out. This should take place at national, regional or local level as appropriate and in particular should take the form of clarification of the nature and scale of the problem which exists in each such location, to be followed by intense engagement in a problem-solving manner at local level in the light of the clarification received.

Last week a joint group of senior management and trade union representatives held fact finding meetings in a number of HSE regions. The outcome of these meetings will inform the report which will be submitted to the NIB for its consideration at a meeting to be held today.

A special meeting the HSPVG has also been scheduled for next Friday, the 20 June to validate further agreements that have been signed off by the HSE since the 1 June.