EDITORIAL 5
The INMO’s daily trolley count continues to be a mirror held to the face of those who make decisions about our public health system. It reflects the lack of capacity in our hospitals and the appalling conditions for patients and staff alike. Nurses, mid- wives and other colleagues can reasonably ask: whose interest are policymakers and employers serving with these unsafe, inap- propriate environments? It’s certainly not the interests of patients or staff, who are either simply seeking care or trying to pro- vide professional services. As winter approaches, the Emergency Department Taskforce met but, disappoint- ingly, the HSE did not produce a winter plan. Instead, they tried to justify increased overcrowding, pointing to increased attendances and admissions: this comes close to blaming the patients for being sick. The INMO highlighted members’ con- cerns at the lack of a winter plan with particular emphasis on the slow progress in plans to increase inpatient capacity. Additional staffed beds are needed this winter, especially in the seven constantly overcrowded adult hospitals and in the children’s hospitals affected by emerging overcrowding. The system can and must change: it is not good enough to justify the level of overcrowding without looking at immediate alleviation measures, such as additional capacity, recruitment of staff and fast tracking the implementation of Sláintecare. This year’s budget did have some allo- cation for Sláintecare – but not enough to instil confidence that any major shift from hospital-based care to community care will happen any time soon. The INMO met with the Department of Health’s Sláinte- care team after the budget and highlighted this missed opportunity. We strongly sup- port Sláintecare as a model and policy, but without adequate funding it will not deliver the scale of transformation at the pace that is required to meet the healthcare requirements of our growing population. Nursing and midwifery has a significant part to play in delivering positive change and should be supported in doing so. We believe that the modest allocation in this years’ budget should be focused on nursing Capacity must be addressed
Journalof the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation
World of Irish Nursing & Midwifery
(ISSN: 2009-4264) Volume 27 Number 9 November 2019 WIN, MedMedia Publications, 17 Adelaide Street, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin. Website: www.medmedia.ie
and midwifery-led services and their role in management of chronic diseases to deliver a new way of providing safe and profes- sional services. In this issue of WIN we highlight some important events and information for our members. First and foremost, we celebrate 60 years of registered intellectual disability nurses. We meet the Section officers, look back at the history of the specialty and dis- cuss the results of a recent study on service access (see pages 25-29) . We provide details on our final event to mark the INMO’s 100th year, which will be held on November 28. This will include the Nurse and Midwife of the Year Awards, which – despite the very difficult working conditions we find ourselves in – celebrate the magnificent work nurses and midwives do every day. Tickets for this event are available through branches and sections (see page 15) . We remind members to apply for the better-paid senior staff nurse grade if they have 17 years’ experience. Before the strike, this was only open to those with 20 years’ experience, so I encourage all eligi- ble members to take advantage of this new benefit. Allowances (backdated to March) and enhanced practice salary scales are now being processed by payroll depart- ments across the country. Ensure you get what you are owed and seek advice from your industrial relations officer or INMO information office if you have any difficul- ties (see page 11) . Finally, this is also the time of year to ensure you avail of the free flu vaccination. At the ED Taskforce meeting the Minister for Health confirmed that the nursing and midwifery-led peer vaccination programme has been the main positive contributor to the recent increased uptake among health- care staff. This is another example of real action, real results and real leadership by nurses and midwives.
Editor Alison Moore Email: alison.moore@medmedia.ie Tel: 01 2710216 Production & news editor Tara Horan Sub-editor Max Ryan Designers Fiona Donohoe, Paula Quigley
Commercial director Leon Ellison Email: leon.ellison@medmedia.ie Tel: 01 2710218 Publisher Geraldine Meagan
WIN –World of Irish Nursing &Midwifery is published in conjunction with the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation by MedMedia Group , Specialists in Healthcare Publishing & Design.
Editor-in-chief: Phil Ní Sheaghdha INMO editorial board: Martina Harkin-Kelly; Catherine Sheridan; Eilish Fitzgerald, Kathryn Courtney, Ann Fahey INMO editors: Michael Pidgeon (michael.pidgeon@inmo.ie) Freda Hughes (freda.hughes@inmo.ie) INMO photographer: Lisa Moyles INMO correspondence to: Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, Whitworth Building, North Brunswick Street, Dublin 7.
Tel: 01 664 0600 Fax: 01 661 0466
Email: inmo@inmo.ie Website: www.inmo.ie
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Phil Ní Sheaghdha General Secretary, INMO
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