Nurses N on picket line
MORE STAFF AND BETTER CONDITIONS ARE PRIORITY FOR NURSES ON DAY THREE OF THE NATIONAL STRIKES
THE icy wind whipping across the entrance to the Lourdes hospital on Thursday morning didn’t deter scores of nurses from picketing for a third day for better working conditions.
Their protest was accompanied by a constant chorus of beeping cars, their occupants all making their support for the nurses’ plight abundantly clear.
And the buzz of excitement, energy and enthusiasm inside the hospital was also palpable, as members of the public and local businesses dropped in biscuits, sandwiches and hot drinks to those taking part.
“No one wants to be out on their doorstep, but we are very insulted by the response from the Government, and all we want is fairness and equality,” said INMO rep Karen Clarke.
“But the support from the public has been overwhelming, and in the long run, if we have more nurses and better working conditions, there will be better care for the patients.”
Karen says the conditions in the hospital, like most around the country, are very bad.
“It is so stressful for the staff, and with those conditions, they can’t deliver the best care to the patients,” she adds. “You are talking about 12-hour shifts, with only a few minutes break, and not enough staff to cover the number of patients, and everyone is just exhausted. We all love our jobs but can’t keep working like this.”
Back on the picket line, there is story after story of how difficult it is to work under such trying conditions.
“I’m working here for over 30 years, and I’ve never seen it as bad,” one nurse told me.
“I had an horrendous day yesterday, and it was a non-strike day, and we simply weren’t adequately staffed for the job we have to do - it’s not safe staffing, and if they don’t improve the working conditions, it’s not an attractive career for younger people.”
A colleague agreed about the conditions disimproving dramatically over the past few years.
“The stress-levels are huge, way through the roof, and you are playing catch-up from the minute you go in. You know you want to give the best in patient care but you simply haven’t the time.”
Another nurse I spoke to it still training, and on work placement in the Lourdes.
Without improved conditions, they will struggle to stay in Ireland.
“The staffing level is just too low, and you have to prioritise who you will care for first,” they explain. “We’re not being greedy, it’s about parity of pay with other healthcare professionals, and we are all getting much better offers from England, Australia, Canada, where there would be maybe three or four patients per nurse, and here it’s around ten or 12 per nurse.”
With another three days of strikes planned for this week, is there concern public support could run out of steam?
“The thing is we have the same number of staff on the floor during a strike day, as a normal day - there are four today on the floor, and there were four this day last week,” explains another nurse.
“This is what we face every day - we’re all getting burned out, and having health issues of our own from stress. “The official response is upsetting; we feel undervalued and under-appreciated, and the fact that they both come from medical backgrounds makes us feel like we’re not respected.”
The second shift of picketers is arriving to take over, and the public support shows no sign of abating, as more sandwiches arrive to feed the troops donated by Staffords.
Sadly for most of the nurses, especially those who works the weekend shift, they have to bring their own sandwiches to work, as there is no canteen available from 2pm on a Friday afternoon until Monday morning.
“If you’re working a Saturday or Sunday, there’s no hot food on site, and if you’re lucky, you might get five minutes to eat whatever you’ve brought,” explains a nurse. “We could thrown the book at them for so much, but all we’re asking for is better conditions for us all.”