Nurses and Midwives Protest Unsafe Staffing Levels at University Maternity Hospital Limerick Today

Nurses and midwives are staging a lunchtime protest today, May 22, 2024, at University Maternity Hospital Limerick (UMHL) over what their union describes as unsafe staffing levels. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) asserts that 30 to 35 frontline positions were eliminated at UMHL following the implementation of the Health Service Executive’s (HSE) Pay and Numbers Strategy for 2023-2024.

The INMO characterizes the impact of these cuts as «catastrophic» for a hospital already facing considerable pressure. The organization reports that many departments within the hospital are currently operating with rosters at 50% below safe levels. Specifically, the Neonatal Unit is said to be operating «beyond safe capacity» while awaiting HSE approval for service expansion, and the Labour Ward experiences daily deficits of midwives on duty.

The union has accused the HSE of violating a 2015 agreement, brokered at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), concerning minimum midwife and nurse staffing levels at the hospital. The INMO states that its members are now managing insurmountable workloads in an effort to sustain safe clinical care for all mothers and babies. A recent offer of 10 additional posts is deemed insufficient to make a significant impact.

Mary Fogarty, INMO Assistant Director of Industrial Relations for the Midwest, commented ahead of the 1 p.m. protest: «Our members will protest at the failures of the HSE to uphold the agreement on staffing at the hospital brokered by the INMO and local management at the WRC in 2015.»