THE Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has expressed concern about the recent closure of University Hospital Galway’s (UHG) gynaecological theatre to all but emergency operations and Caesarean sections.
The moratorium on staff recruitment and the loss of seven nurses due to early retirement and sick leave has resulted in the suspension of some elective gynaecological work by management at UHG.
Nursing staff who have had to work extra time are owed 2,700 hours – 1,000 hours in annual leave and 1,700 hours for on-call work, INMO industrial relations office Regina Durcan said.
“Hospital management are trying to address this by stopping some elective operations and increasing the nursing posts by two-and-a-half,” Ms Durcan said.
“Given that nursing staff are under pressure everywhere, we hope that management lives up to this commitment,” she said.
It is understood that the gynaecological theatre staff were told that only emergency cases would be dealt with for up to five weeks, and were also informed that they should take their annual leave owed during this time or lose it altogether.
The HSE West denied that the UHG gynaecological theatre had been closed for five weeks. “Staff in the theatre are working very hard to ensure continuity of service,” it said in a statement.
“However, in recent weeks, due to staff shortages, it has not been possible to run the theatre to full capacity and on occasions we have used the main theatre in the hospital and theatre time in Mayo General Hospital and Portiuncula Hospital, Ballinasloe, for urgent elective surgery.
“Agency staff have been recruited recently to cover staff leave and this will lead to greater flexibility with rostering,”it said.
