Northeast nurses protest over working week

The Irish Nurses' Organisation (INO) has held protests at three hospitals in the northeast today over the length of the working week.

Members of the INO protested from 1pm to 1.30pm at the Louth County Hospital, Dundalk; Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda; and Our Lady's Hospital, Navan.

The INO, Ireland's largest union for nurses and midwives, claimed that management failed to to implement the nationally agreed 37.5 hour working week for all nurses and midwives in these three hospitals.

INO industrial relations officer Albert Murphy said: "The failure of local and regional management to implement this entitlement is causing anger and frustration among our members.

"Nurses and midwives in these hospitals are looking at their colleagues in hospitals around the country who are already enjoying a shorter working week which came about after the national nurses' dispute of 2007."

He called on management in the northeast to implement, "without any further delay", the 37.5 hour week for INO members in the three hospitals.

The INO said there would be no disruption to patient care during the protests.

As part of a deal which ended a seven-week campaign of industrial action last year, the working week for nurses was to be reduced to 37.5 hours by the start of June on condition this could be done on a cost-neutral basis and without affecting services.

The HSE said management in the Louth/Meath Hospital Group is committed to introducing the 37.5 hour working week roster, and that a "significant" amount of work has been done on implementing the 37.5 hour working week for nurses and midwives working in the Louth Meath Hospital Group.

It added that this work included new rosters for staff to generate greater efficiencies in work patterns and the minimising of shift overlaps of shifts - while complying with the European Working Time Directive.

A cut in the working week has now been officially agreed for more than 21,000 nurses in the public sector, according to figures drawn up earlier this month by the Department of Health.