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Limerick sees 81 on trolleys – highest ever daily count
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the day. This is the worst-ever figure we’ve recorded in an Irish hospital. “This comes less than a week after a 17-bed ward in UHL was shut. The beds that have been closed in UHL need to be reo- pened immediately. “We are calling on the Min- ister for Health to intervene and deal with the chronic over- crowding in the hospital as an urgent matter of patient and staff safety.” The INMO has launched an on l i ne pe t i t i on , c a l l - ing for the closed ward to be reopened and for bed capacity and staffing at the hospital to be increased, see: my.uplift.ie/petitions/ reopen-the-closed-beds-in- university-hospital-limerick
The I NMO r e c o r d e d 8 1 patients waiting for a bed at University Hospital Limerick on Wednesday, April 4, 2019 – the highest-ever daily figure recorded in an Irish hospital, according to INMO trolley/ ward watch. This record number took place just days after UHL management closed a 17-bed ward at the hospital, which the INMO said contributed to the problem. Five days after the ward was closed, there were 52 patients waiting in UHL’s emergency department and a further 29 on trolleys on hospital wards. INMO reps met with TDs from Limerick and the Mid- West to raise the overcrowding and understaffing problems at
UHL on April 9, 2019. INMO I RO i n L ime r i ck , Mary Fogarty said: “Staff and patients were under intoler- able pressure in Limerick on INMO IROMary Fogarty: “Worst-ever figure came less than a week after a 17-bed ward was shut by management in UHL”
Lobbying LimerickTDs on UHL overcrowding: The INMOmet withTDs from Limerick and the Mid-West in Dáil Eireann last month to outline the need for urgent action on Limerick University Hospital. Pictured were (l-r): TomNeville,TD, Fine Gael; Mary Fogarty, INMO IRO; SiobhanThornton, INMO rep UHL; Claire Burke, INMO rep, UHL; Willie O’Dea,TD, Fianna Fáil; Tony Fitzpatrick, INMO director of industrial relations; Ann Noonan, INMO Executive Council member who is a staff nurse at UHL; Maurice Quinlivan,TD, Sinn Féin; and Niall Collins,TD, Fianna Fáil
Parental leave reinstated for member
leave scheme, which offers two weeks’ leave and benefit to spend with their new babies during their first year. Ultimately, parents will be able to benefit from seven weeks’ leave each under the scheme as it develops incre- mentally over the next three years. – Mary Power, INMO IR O
negotiated by the INMO and granted to the Kerry-based member last month. Members who experience issues such as this in the work- place are urged to contact their local IRO. From this November, all new parents in employment in Ireland will be able to avail of a new national parental
An INMO member who had been denied continuation of her parental leave on suc- cessful appointment to a promotional position, has been successful in having it reinstated. After a protracted nego- tiation period, a revised but acceptable reinstatement of the parental leave was
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