Staffing levels at many State-run nursing homes for the elderly are so low that the care being provided is unacceptable, the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) has claimed.
The INO is calling on the Government for an immediate review of staff numbers and conditions of accommodation at publicly-owned residential homes.
Phil Ni Sheaghdha INO director of industrial relations
The organisation says there had been a high percentage of referrals to the Labour Relations Commission and the Labour Court by employees to force health service management to look at the real implications of low staffing levels.
In 1998 the Commission on Nursing recommended the Department of Health and Children urgently review staffing levels and conditions in homes for the elderly.
The INO claimed this had yet to happen. INO director of industrial relations Phil Ni Sheaghdha warned that seven years on the issue remained as urgent as ever.
"Staffing levels in many care of the elderly facilities are so low that the care being provided is unacceptable to INO members working in the areas and attempting to provide quality care under impossible circumstances," she said.
"INO members are sure that if the needs of the patients were examined in the context of staffing levels all elderly care facilities would be well below acceptable levels of staffing."
INO members have outlined situations where there are not enough staff on duty to afford basic rights to residents such as regular baths, self-determined bed time and mobility outside of the facility.
Ms Ni Sheaghdha went on: "Surely in this day and age one nurse and one care assistant rostered to provide care for up to 30 elderly patients for 12 hour periods is unacceptable to managers of our health service?"
She insisted workers should not be forced to pursue the situation as a claim to the Labour Court before the Government sat up and took notice.
PA