Delay to safe staffing bill that led to suspension of nurses’ strike
LEGISLATION to address a shortage of healthcare workers in Northern Ireland which led to crippling strike action is not going to be passed by the current Assembly, it has emerged.
The chief nursing officer, Professor Charlotte Mcardle, has revealed there is not enough time to implement safe staffing legislation in the current mandate, potentially leaving a deal between politicians and health workers in tatters.
Thousands of NHS workers agreed to suspend strike action at the start of 2020 when the Executive agreed to address staffing levels.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has described the development as a “failure to deliver” for nurses who have been putting their lives on the line throughout the pandemic.
The development has led to concerns healthcare workers — exhausted and traumatised by the pandemic — may return to the picket line in protest at the apparent lack of action.
The delay emerged during an evidence session of the Stormont health committee on Thursday when People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll asked Prof Mcardle for an update on the work that has been done to ensure staffing levels are addressed.
Prof Mcardle said: “Work has begun to put a bill team together to look at the requirements for safe staffing and there are obviously different ways of doing this and we need to look at what other countries have done and use the evidence base that we have. That will take significant time.”
Mr Carroll asked for further clarity on the matter: “I am very concerned because this was one of the key factors in relation to healthcare workers taking strike action last year and the fact that the legislative clock is ticking down very quickly, I could be wrong, but I don’t remain convinced there is going to be the opportunity to process legislation before the end of this mandate and I would be disappointed.”
Prof Mcardle replied: “We have already asked that the legislation be included in the forward work plan for the Assembly for the next mandate, so Gerry is correct, it’s not going to be possible in this mandate.”
Pat Cullen, RCN’S Northern Ireland director, said: “Nurses voted to suspend industrial action this time last year on the basis of the Minister’s framework which made a commitment to implement safe nurse staffing legislation. This was a crucial aspect of suspending this action. A year on, there has been virtually no movement on this issue.
“Safe nurse staffing is about ensuring that we have the correct numbers of nurses and nursing assistants to provide the required standard of care and treatment for patients. We expected this to be implemented as a priority. Like the health committee, nursing staff on the frontline will be shocked to learn that this is unlikely to happen in the mandate of the current Assembly.
Our members will see this, once again, as a failure to deliver what has been promised to them. Taking strike action was a very serious decision for nursing staff to take. It was not done lightly, and this news is a further blow to morale. We’ve been left with a service where nurses are struggling with staffing levels on a daily basis and this cannot continue.
“If the pandemic has shown us anything it is the impact and consequences of not having enough nursing staff to provide the level of safe and effective care that we all deserve.”
The Department of Health was contacted for comment.