Harney gets a cool reception from nurses

More than 300 nurses and midwives attended the three-day annual conference of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) in Knightsbrook Hotel, Trim, last week. It was the first time the conference has been held in County Meath. Health Minister Mary Harney, who addressed the conference on Friday, received a cool reception from delegates as she warned nurses that there is no "Plan B" if they reject the Croke Park pay deal. She told the conference that the Croke Park agreement is the best she believed they could do and that, given the gap of €20bn a year between revenue raised by the Government and the money it was spending, there was no alternative to the approach that is being adopted. Her comments came just a day after the 320 delegates unanimously called upon all INMO members, in a nationwide ballot commencing this week, to vote no to the Croke Park proposals on public service pay and reform. The debate on the Croke Park deal on Thursday involved a presentation on the proposals of the INMO's alternative vision for the public health service and numerous contributions from delegates vividly recording the serious difficulties they are encountering in striving to provide safe care to patients. The debate saw a particularly strong endorsement of the proposal to seek the lifting of the current recruitment embargo on frontline staff which has resulted, to date, in the loss of over 2,000 nursing/midwifery posts and a threat of a further cut of 6,000 frontline staff over the next three years. The INMO will now commence a three-week nationwide workplace ballot involving regional and local meetings to appraise all members of the reasons behind the call for rejection and the alternative vision for the health service. In making the decision, delegates also endorsed the strategy that a 'no' vote would not lead to any escalation of industrial action as it decided to suspend the current work to rule upon completion of the ballot, with any further industrial action only being commenced after a renewed mandate was obtained from members. Speaking about the decision, INMO general secretary Liam Doran said: "Today's decision, if accepted by our members in the forthcoming ballot, clearly and directly challenges the Government and the Health Service Executive to come back to the negotiating table and agree an alternative to the flawed, harmful and unsafe policies currently being followed, for the health service, by health employers and government. "We are recommending a 'no' vote while also recommending no further escalation of industrial action to allow our alternative vision, for our public health service, to be discussed and rolled out over the next three years." On Thursday, delegates offered unanimous support to 900 nurses at Dublin's Beaumont Hospital as they balloted for industrial action in response to management's decision to place beds in corridors and behind doors throughout the hospital.In tandem with this, management - due to a budget shortfall - is closing 52 inpatient beds and removing an additional 10 beds currently available as overflow to the ED. The INMO conference in Trim recognised that it "defies all sense and reason to place beds in these unsafe locations which lack privacy and access to the provision of safe care, while at the same time closing 62 perfectly suitable beds". On Wednesday, Linda Silas, general secretary of the Canadian Nurses Federation, called on the INMO to resist all cuts that damage patients or services. Addressing the 320 delegates, Ms Silas also called on the organisation to confront Government, whenever necessary, to point out the shortcomings of their policies. Ms Silas also warned that the recruitment embargo in this country will leave Ireland critically short of nursing manpower over the next five to 10 years. She said the Irish Government was mistaken when assuming that newly qualified graduates will return home to Ireland when the economy picks up in a few years' time.