Patients face months of delay from strike backlog as new deal promises ‘better and safer’ healthcare

MANY of the 50,000 patients whose hospital appointments were cancelled due to the nurses’ strike are facing months of delay before being seen, it emerged yesterday.

Hospital outpatient clinics have resumed but they must get to grips with the backlog and several patients whose operation was cancelled have yet to be rebooked.

It comes as the new Labour Court pay deal, which led to the suspension of the nurses’ strike, promises a series of measures which will lead to “better and safer” healthcare for patients.

A key element of the deal is the “accelerated roll-out” over the next three years of the Safe Staffing and Skill Mix Framework, which sets out what the ratio of nurses and healthcare assistants on wards should be.

The optimum skill mix was determined as 80pc registered nurses to 20pc of healthcare assistants. It was piloted in 16 acute wards and the findings were positive. It is based on the number of patients and their particular needs, rather than solely on the ward size.

From the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation’s point of view, it would mean higher levels of nurse staffing.

The pilots have shown if implemented this skill mix led to reduced length of hospital stay for patients, fewer deaths, a fall in reports of care left undone and a drop in hospital acquired pneumonia, urinary tract infections, patient falls and pressure ulcers.

This was launched last year but has not received any specific funding. The union argues it is good for nurses and the patient and would lead to a reduction of agency staff.

The Labour Court agreement also aims to get more nurses to sign up to changes set out in Sláintecare, the blueprint for the future of the health service.