What one Bray nurse thinks about the dispute

(One Bray nurse, who asked to remain anonymous, spoke with our reporter Mary Fogarty)

I’m very concerned about safe quota of nurses per patients. It’s not acceptable that patient safety is put on the line, which is happening every day of the week. Nurses are one to 14 instead of one to four which is the proper quota. The spin we’re hearing ever time we turn on the radio is that appointments are being cancelled. Sure appointments and operations are cancelled every day of the week. Anyone who has ever been waiting for a bed or checking their phone for a text to say a bed is available knows that.

It’s very irritating to see that being blamed on nurses, it’s not the nursing staff.

We are community nurses here so we see the fallout of people who don’t get their operations, people who don’t get their treatments, and we’re continuing to try and treat them in the community, with very limited resources.

It’s very disrespectful that currently there hasn’t been any engagement with the nurses. I do find that disrespectful. We’re a highly qualified, highly educated group of women. They won’t even engage.

I think the whole health system, including nursing, has to be restructured and that’s something which has to be addressed. But that’s a longer project. In terms of this it’s really unsafe for the patients, and that’s my main concern.

There are young nurses on wards coming home stressed out of their wits. It’s unsafe for the patients and that’s the most important thing of all.