Charles Ward: Nurses Deserve More After Letterkenny Report
Charles Ward addresses the strain on nurses and ambulance staff revealed by the HIQA report on Letterkenny University Hospital and calls for better support. He highlights overcrowding, staff shortages, long shifts and a worrying trend of burnout that is driving experienced nurses from the service.
Charles Ward outlines why nurses are central to patient care and how their role extends beyond medical treatment to emotional support for families. He refers to the HIQA findings on Letterkenny University Hospital emergency department pressures as evidence of systemic risk and operational strain.
Ward summarises the HIQA observation that, despite overcrowding and long waits, nurses remained courteous, attentive and committed to dignity and autonomy in care. He contrasts those professional standards with the pressures that are causing experienced staff to leave, citing testimony presented at the INMO conference.
He details how prolonged 13-hour shifts, extreme patient loads and inadequate staffing contribute to burnout, and he warns that some nurses leave with damaged health. Ward also criticises the HSE for failing to update ambulance workers pay scales to reflect increased responsibility and workload over the last 20 years.
Using a recent personal experience in an accident and emergency department, Ward praises individual nurses for their compassion while stressing that recognition is not enough. He urges Ministers and health authorities to support nurses and the National Ambulance Service to prevent further loss of frontline staff.
Overview
Charles Ward outlines why nurses are central to patient care and how their role extends beyond medical treatment to emotional support for families. He refers to the HIQA findings on Letterkenny University Hospital emergency department pressures as evidence of systemic risk and operational strain.
Report findings and staff response
Ward summarises the HIQA observation that, despite overcrowding and long waits, nurses remained courteous, attentive and committed to dignity and autonomy in care. He contrasts those professional standards with the pressures that are causing experienced staff to leave, citing testimony presented at the INMO conference.
Workload, burnout and ambulance pay
He details how prolonged 13-hour shifts, extreme patient loads and inadequate staffing contribute to burnout, and he warns that some nurses leave with damaged health. Ward also criticises the HSE for failing to update ambulance workers pay scales to reflect increased responsibility and workload over the last 20 years.
Personal note and consequence
Using a recent personal experience in an accident and emergency department, Ward praises individual nurses for their compassion while stressing that recognition is not enough. He urges Ministers and health authorities to support nurses and the National Ambulance Service to prevent further loss of frontline staff.
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Transcript
Nurses play a vital role in caring for patients in hospitals and healthcare centres and their work and their impact extends far beyond medical treatment. They're often the first people the patients see and they're the ones who spend the most time providing care and comfort for the sick and injured. They're often the ones that provide the emotional support to families during extremely difficult times and they all do this while juggling with immense workloads while dealing with overcrowded hospitals, staff shortages and long working hours. The physical emotional pressures that they come under caring for patients every day cannot be underestimated. This is reflected most in the HIPCWA report on Letterkenny University Hospital where risks were identified in the emergency department particularly in relation to overcrowding. But despite this however the nurses were observing courteous attentive and respectful to their integrations with their patients and the report said that they were aware of this and demonstrated a commitment to providing care and dignity and autonomy and delivery of care and maintained calm reassuring presence despite the pressures of a busy department, long waiting times. This is consistent with many reports you hear about Letterkenny Hospital and despite this the many challenges they face the nurses are exceptional in their work and the care that they provide and I don't think they get the recognition that they truly deserve and I'm glad that we're taking time to recognize them today but they deserve far more recognition Minister and you know this. Last week's INMO conference an emergency medical nurse who worked in Letterkenny Hospital for 22 years described how she left due to stress anxiety and the physical demands of the job. She said that she would go back in a heartbeat but her health was so damaged. She was one nurse potentially looking after 30 to 40 patients in a busy emergency department. The type of shifts are physically hard and very demanding 13-hour shifts on your feet constantly go go go and it also takes a significant mental toll on their health and they suffer from burnout. This is pushing them to the brink until they can physically and mentally do no more and we must support them and support their jobs and Minister we also must support our National Ambulance Service. The HSE's failure to update the ambulance workers pay scales to reflect changes in the responsibility and the workloads over the last 20 years is shocking and we must do all we can to support them. Two weeks ago I was in the accident emergency department with my youngest child. Middle of the night, high temperature and I'll tell you what I received there the treatment was fantastic and one of the Indian nurses came in and she was magnificent and she cared for my child like it was her own and I think that we need to recognize this but we also need to recognize that we have to look after our nurses going forward.