NURSES IN THE Emergency Department of Mayo University Hospital have served notice of industrial action to HSE management at the hospital.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has said that nurses working in the Emergency Department in Mayo will begin industrial action on 3 November.

The INMO said the industrial action will take the form of a work-to-rule in the first instance, with potential for it to “escalate to work stoppages”. 

The INMO’s assistant director of industrial relations for the West, Colm Porter, remarked that the decision follows a balloting process and proceedings at the Workplace Relations Commission to “resolve staffing issues” in the ED of the Mayo Hospital.

He said members feel that “recent actions of management do not demonstrate a genuine attempt to protect their safety at work or provide safe clinical areas or safe staffing for patients”. 

Porter said nurses have been “forced to engage in industrial action in pursuance of safe staffing”.

He said there is currently a deficit of over 10 whole time equivalent (WTE) nurses in the hospital’s ED - WTE converts part time staff into an equivalent number of whole-time staff.

Porter added that a further 28.5 WTE nurses are required to “meet the safe staffing levels outlined in the HSE’s own Safe Staffing Framework for Emergency Departments”.

He said nurses are working in a department that is “persistently overcrowded and chronically understaffed”.

“Our members are very disappointed that it has come to this,” said Porter, “but unfortunately, they feel the risks being posed to patients due to ongoing understaffing problems have become too significant and their concerns are not being taken seriously.”

Ported also remarked that Mayo University Hospital has been “consistently overcrowded since January”, with over 3,570 patients on trolleys so far this year.

“Nurses in Mayo University Hospital’s emergency department are advocating for patients who deserve safe staffing levels,” said Porter.

“They are now reminding the HSE as their employer that they are obligated to provide staff with a healthy and safe workplace.”

He said it is “disappointing that nurses have had to go to such lengths to highlight their concerns for patient safety and their own mental and physical wellbeing”.

Porter added that nurses in Mayo are “coping with excessive workloads, yet they are still determined to have their concerns heard”.