THE Eastern Health Board has attempted to demean the image of the Psychiatric Nurses' Association, according to the association chairman, Mr Seamus Murphy.
The PNA, said Mr Murphy, "resented and regretted" the actions of the board following the murder of two women living in hostel accommodation in Dublin in March.
The EHB had accused the association of attempting to capitalise from the tragedy for its own benefit.
Mr Murphy told delegates the murders in Orchard View hostel, which is attached to St Brendan's Hospital in Dublin, were "sick and tragic" and a matter for the Garda. A number of other issues, however, Mr Murphy said, were a matter of concern to the PNA.
These included:
. The insistence of health board management on persevering with a policy in relation to this hosted when the evidence was clear that more supervision and support was required.
. The provision of accommodation which was so poorly maintained that it was an embarrassment to all.
. The failure by health board management to take seriously and act on the clinical judgments of nurses.
. The insistence on creating large clusters of hostels and patients in the area around St Brendan's, contrary to the ideals and ethic of rehabilitation.
In his speech to the conference, the Minister for Health, Mr Noonan, said he knew the organisation had strong views on some of the issues "in respect of the great tragedy" at St Brendan's Hospital.
"It is absolutely within your rights to express your views and I take your views very seriously indeed," said Mr Noonan.
He told delegates that the way forward for community care was to continue on a partnership basis. He cautioned about building up resistance among the general public to the concept of the community care programme.
Mr Murphy said that concerns had been expressed about the unsupervised hostel in which the two murdered women were living prior to the tragedy.
In the week of the tragedy, he said, a nurse was so concerned about a female resident of the unsupervised section of the hostel "roaming the street at the dead of night in her nightgown that she made an official report demanding that action be taken".
The Eastern Health Board said in a statement issued later it regretted "that once again the Psychiatric Nurses' Association has apparently sought to use the tragic murder of two elderly women in Orchard View, Dublin, to further trade union objectives".
It said it had received no complaint about any incident involving patient security on the week of the murders from senior nurses, other nursing staff, the PNA or anybody involved in the provision of Orchard View services.