Nurses’ proposals to end dispute could have cost about €180m

Proposals put forward by nurses to resolve the dispute over recruitment and retention would have cost almost €180 million to implement, it has been estimated.

This is nearly four times as much as the €50 million deal agreed with gardaí last November.

Confidential internal costings drawn up during the recent talks between unions and Government representatives show paying nurses for work carried out during meal breaks would cost €83 million.

The bill for implementing a separate proposal for taking nurses off their rosters for one hour each week to facilitate continuing professional development would have been €48 million.

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Replacing all nurses who went on maternity leave would have cost €13 million, while extending a current deal under which nurses receive additional payment for work in the evening in return for taking on some medical duties would have cost a further €13 million.

The total bill for all the proposals put forward by the Irish Nurses and Midwives’ Organisation (INMO), according to the confidential internal costings, would have been €179.19 million over a full year.

Retention issue

The Irish Times reported earlier this week that as part of talks on recruitment and retention issues, which aimed to avert a planned strike, nurses had sought the restoration of a number of allowances for staff appointed since 2011 when these were abolished by the previous government.

Nurses have also made a number of other proposals such as the ending of the practice of unpaid meal breaks and a request for time off for continuing professional development as part of an overall package of measures.

Sources on the management side had expressed alarm at the cost of the proposals when the union document was tabled last week.

INMO general secretary Liam Doran said on Friday the figures represented “more fanciful accounting” by health service management and were a gross exaggeration.

Staffing structure

He said nurses “had only sought that which was in existence already for others”.

He said the publication of the costings represented “another attack on nurses and midwives who were only seeking a stable staffing structure”.

The Government in the recent talks had proposed the appointment of an additional 1,200 nurses this year as well as an enhancement of the campaign to attract nurses to return to the State from abroad.

However, the Government insisted all pay issues had to be dealt with as part of the new process involving the Public Service Pay Commission.

On Wednesday, the executive of the INMO rejected the Government proposals and announced its campaign of industrial action would begin on March 7th.

This will initially involve a continuous work-to-rule but may be followed by a series of rolling strikes. The work-to-rule by nurses is likely to lead to a worsening of the trolley crisis in hospital emergency departments and a lengthening of waiting lists.

The INMO has denied the dispute was about a “money grab” by their members.