The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Kenmare CNU to open 8 beds after recruitment drive
SEARCH BEGINS FOR FOUR ADDITIONAL NURSES AND THREE HEALTH CARE ASSISTANTS AFTER LENGTHY INMO-HSE TALKS
CORK Kerry Community Healthcare has confirmed that it plans to open an additional eight beds at the Community Nursing Unit in Kenmare, in a move that has been welcomed by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).
A spokesperson for Cork Kerry Community Healthcare told The Kerryman this week that it has proceeded immediately to what it said will be an extensive recruitment campaign, in order to facilitate the opening of the additional eight beds. An additional four staff nurses and three health care assistants are to be appointed.
The news follows lengthy engagements between Cork Kerry Community Healthcare and the INMO since 2015, and acceptance by the INMO of management proposals for staffing the unit. The 40-bed Kenmare Community Hospital opened in 2013.
The HSE spokesperson added that it is keen to open the beds as soon as possible. The currently unoccupied, fully-furnished rooms at the unit are ready to be occupied, and all beds have been inspected by and registered with HIQA. The HSE statement added that SIPTU have accepted the proposed rosters for Health Care Assistants.
The beds will open on a phased basis and will be dependent on a successful recruitment campaign. Cork Kerry Community Healthcare has placed advertisements in local print and radio outlets and has an ongoing campaign running online with jobs.ie.
“INMO members are satisfied that their long standing dispute regarding appropriate nurse staffing levels to care of an additional eight long-stay patients has been concluded,” an INMO spokesperson told The Kerryman in recent days.
“We look forward to the recruitment of the additional nurses required, which will then facilitate to opening of these additional eight beds in Roughty house at Kenmare Community Nursing Unit.”
The INMO has previously warned, however, that a shortage of nurses both locally and nationally can be a challenge to recruitment campaigns.