Sir, - The nurses' strike is a concrete expression of the deep anger felt by the nursing profession at the way they have been treated for the past decade or so. Starting with the cutbacks in the mid-1980s, the nurses have been put upon and taken for granted by their ultimate employers, the State. That 27,000 nurses should reject a pay rise of over 20 per cent and the findings of a special commission to look into their grievances says a lot about how out-of-touch their employers are with the profession.
Characteristic of the attitude they have had to endure over the past years have been the comments made in public by the Ministers for Health, Finance and the Taoiseach; irresponsible and inflammatory. Health is primarily about caring for the sick and helping them recover with appropriate intervention. Nurses are absolutely key to the success of the health services in this country and they need to be much more involved in day-to-day management and strategic decision-making with regard to further developments of the health services. Their contribution needs recognition.
Responsibility for allowing their situation to deteriorate to its present unhappy state lies squarely with successive Ministers for Health and with those who have given them such bad advice over the years. Nurses deserve the support of every member of the community and they should not return until they have achieved their aims. - Yours, etc.,
Peter Boylan, MAO, FRCPI, FRCOG, Blackrock Clinic, Blackrock, Co Dublin.