Underpaid Irish nurses forced to emigrate to earn a decent wage

Graduates are furious that pay cuts pushed through by the Health Minister leave them earning less than the minimum wage

Up to 500 overworked nurses staged a furious protest over pay rates they claim are forcing them to emigrate in their droves.

The Irish Nurses’ and Midwives’ Organisation demonstrated outside HSE headquarters in Dublin over crippling working conditions and low wages.

Graduate nurses have had their wages slashed by e4,000, meaning they are being paid as little as e22,000 a year.

Union of Students President Joe O’Connor said nurses are being forced to emigrate and find work elsewhere.

He said: “The initial training rate of €6.49 for student nurses/midwives is grossly unfair.

“Graduate nurses/midwives’ starting salary is currently €22,000.

“The same graduates can earn up to €43,614 in Canada. Coupled with long hours and an understaffing crisis, many graduates are opting to leave.

“This unfair treatment cannot continue. If it does, we will be left with a problem of epidemic proportions: no nurses or midwives left to work in our hospital wards.”

Mr O’Connor said Health Minister James Reilly needs to engage with nurses and ensure they are paid properly.

Graduate nurse Sean Kearns said less than minimum wage in this tough role is not good enough.

He said: “The incentive to stay has disappeared; only three general nurses out of 65 that graduated from my class have accepted contracts in Ireland.

“The rest have left to work, leaving behind their families and often relationships. Some have decided to get a different job altogether after four years of studying.

“The message to the Government is: talk to us and fix this problem before it gets even worse.”

The INMO also published a damning report of midwifery in the country.

General Secretary Liam Doran said not one maternity hospital was meeting the internationally recognised staffing levels.

He said: “This survey confirms we are over 550 midwives short of the number needed to deliver safe, better and high quality care to mothers and babies.

“Births in this country continue to be at a very high level, relative to the EU, and have increased, by over 16 per cent, in the last decade while midwifery staffing numbers have been cut.

“It is also a fact that births are becoming increasingly complex which, in turn, puts even greater demands upon midwives and maternity services generally.

“What is needed now is immediate action on the recruitment of additional midwifery staff.”

The union said the maternity unit in Portlaoise Hospital the poorest staffing levels in the country.

The staffing-to-birth ratio there was one midwife to 55 births and it needed 33 additional midwives immediately to reach the level.

The Coombe Hospital, which is now in charge of under-fire Portlaoise, was itself “severely understaffed” with a midwife-to-birth ratio of 1:40, it said.

INMO President Claire Mahon said: “It is quite clear that cuts in midwifery staffing has a direct consequence upon the standard of midwifery care, available to mothers and babies.

“Money invested in maternity services is also money invested in the future health of this country.

“The first priority, of the Department and the HSE, must be to agree the initiatives we are proposing so we collectively work to achieve the recommended midwife to birth ratio nationwide.”

SOURCE-IRISH MIRROR