Non-nursing staff at the Royal Hospital in Donnybrook, Dublin, are demanding changes in complaints procedures and a higher ratio of staff to patients following the suicide of a porter who was dismissed after allegations of sexual harassment.
SIPTU, which has served strike notice for April 7th on the hospital, says that its members are no longer willing to work in "one to one" situations with patients. The dispute could have serious implications for staffing levels across public service employment.
A SIPTU official Ms Chris Rowlands, who represented the dismissed porter at disciplinary hearings, estimates that around 15 per cent of staff in the health services are the subject of serious workplace complaints, many never substantiated. The Royal Hospital caters for 200 long-stay patients, many of whom are geriatric or with longterm neurological illnesses. Last October 21st a porter at the hospital was suspended following allegations that he had made inappropriate and unwanted sexual advances to a patient. The hospital was obliged to suspend him immediately under guidelines laid down by the Department of Health and Children.
The porter denied the allegations. Ms Rowlands says she requested written copies of all the complaints and an independent investigation into them when she met management on October 23rd.
She says that no progress was made at a further meeting, held at the union's insistence, at the end of November.
The only evidence against the porter was that the complainant was subject to mood swings and withdrawn. Ms Rowlands says management refused her request that the hospital refer the case to a Rights Commissioner.
There was no further consultation, and on December 8th a letter was delivered to the man's home saying he had been dismissed for gross misconduct.
Colleagues wanted to take industrial action, but the 1990 Industrial Relations Act prohibits industrial action on behalf of one worker. Instead SIPTU assisted the man in obtaining legal advice and taking his case to the Employment Appeals Tribunal.
On December 23rd he was found dead in his home. He left a letter stating: "I cannot stand the waiting and worry of it. I hope you believe me. I am telling the truth." A verdict of suicide was returned at the inquest on March 3rd, 1999.
A hospital spokesman said it had no comment to make on the death or on the pending strike.