PSYCHIATRIC NURSES have called off their dispute with the Health Service Executive following the acceptance of settlement terms put forward by the Labour Relations Commission (LRC), writes Ronan McGreevy.
Psychiatric services were disrupted for the last two weeks in a dispute over compensation for nurses injured while on duty.
The dispute, which involved a ban on overtime and some non-essential duties, caused considerable disruption at locations including the Central Mental Hospital, Tallaght hospital and St Loman's hospital, along with the closure of the Lakeview facility in Naas. The overtime was lifted yesterday and all services are expected to return to normal on Monday. Agreement was reached following two days of talks at the LRC earlier this week.
The dispute was due to be escalated next week with psychiatric nurses refusing to be redeployed to make up for staff shortages caused by the overtime ban.
The Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) and Siptu, which represent all 7,000 psychiatric nurses in public facilities in the State, both expressed satisfaction at the outcome.
The number of physical injuries which will be compensated has quadrupled from 13 to 52 and compensation has doubled in some cases from what was originally offered by the HSE earlier this year - an offer that the PNA dismissed as "yellow pack".
The level of compensation will range from €5,000 for cuts requiring stitching to €10,000 for facial fractures.
Nurses will retain the right to go to the Personal Injuries Assessment Board for more serious injuries, while awards for permanent incapacity and death are unchanged.
Compensation will be provided by a Government-funded indemnity scheme with a private insurer.
The LRC recommendation to provide compensation up to a maximum of €15,000 for psychological injuries has to be approved by the Cabinet over the next four weeks. Larger awards will still be pursued through the High Court.
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