Dingle’s empty beds highlight exactly why Irish nurses have taken to the picket lines
IN Dingle, the West Kerry Community Hospital stands as a prime example of why nurses feel they have no option but to strike.
Ever since the €16.4m hospital opened in 2010 an entire section with eight beds that are desperately needed by the local community has remained unused because of staff shortages. The problem was compounded when the hospital was recently forced to close an additional six beds for a period of time because some staff were out sick and there was nobody to take their place.
For the past two years the HSE has been trying to recruit more nurses but with no success and, in the view of the INMO, the reason is simply because nursing graduates don’t want to work in Dingle or Ireland because the pay, working conditions and career opportunities are not good enough.
On Tuesday ITT student nurses Rachel Sweeney from Templeglantine and Rebecca Ducey from Banteer told The Kerryman that they too plan to join the flood of nurse emigrants after they graduate. Both are currently working as interns in Dingle where “there’s great appreciation from the existing staff and from the patients”, but they expect more from their future careers.
“We’ll probably stay in Ireland for a year and then we’ll go to England or Australia… the pay is better, the [working] conditions are better and there are better opportunities for professional development,” they said.
Both would like to return to Ireland eventually, but that’s by no means certain; what is certain is that they’re getting out to seek opportunities denied to them here. Rebecca points out that in Australia the nurse-patient ratio is 1:4.
Meanwhile Áine Fitzgerald, who is the INMO representative in Dingle, said that in West Kerry Community Hospital there are only two nurses and two healthcare assistants to care for 46 mostly high-dependency patients at night.
During the day there are at most six nurses and six carers on duty, but staff feel it’s still woefully inadequate.
“That’s what’s allocated by the HSE. We’ve fought with them about it, but there’s no stir,” said Áine.
So, yes, pay is an issue for nurses in Dingle but, as is the case with their colleagues elsewhere, it’s not all about pay. They want better opportunities and better staffing levels as well, not for an easier life but so they can have the satisfaction of doing their work well.