More than 15,000 nurses in the State are no longer working in the profession but would return if more family-friendly work practices were put in place, according to a new study. Eithne Donnellan, Health Correspondent, reports.
The report, prepared for the Health Services National Partnership Forum by the Irish Nurses' Organisation and the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business, also reported that almost as many Irish nurses are working abroad as foreign nurses are working in the Republic.
There are 3,955 Irish nurses working overseas, and more than 4,000 foreign nurses, mainly from the Philippines, in the Irish health service. Despite this, there are still up to 1,000 nursing vacancies in the health sector.
The study, conducted by questioning over 1,000 nurses, examined the reasons nurses and midwives had left the profession and assessed their intentions and willingness to return to practice.
Family commitments were responsible for 44 per cent of nurses leaving the profession. Other factors cited included ill-health (26 per cent), working hours (17 per cent), salary (15 per cent), stress/burnout (5 per cent) and understaffing (3 per cent).
Asked about factors which would encourage them to return to work, 56 per cent cited an improved salary, and 53 per cent said shorter working hours. Some 28 per cent said they would be influenced by the provision of on-site creche facilities.
The report made several recommendations on how these issues could be addressed. These included greater provision of part-time work, flexible working hours and improved staffing levels to reduce the workload on individual nurses.
Meanwhile a study to be published today will show how holding on to nurses isn't just a problem for the Republic. It will show that 39 per cent of nurses in England, 32 per cent in Scotland and 33 per cent in New Zealand are planning to leave their jobs within the next year.
Reacting to the findings of yesterday's research, the Health Service Employers' Agency said there was no question of an exodus of nurses from the Irish health service.
It said the number of nurses attracted to work in the service had increased significantly in recent years, from 27,154 in 1999 to 33,395 in 2002.
"To suggest that an increase of 23 per cent in the number of nurses attracted to work within the public health service in the last four years can be construed as evidence of dissatisfaction with pay or working conditions is simply daft," it said.
Nurses had benefited from very substantial pay increases since 1999, and their working arrangements were extremely flexible. More than a quarter of the 39,000 nurses in the service worked part-time, it added.