The INMO has warned that any initiative to increase the bed capacity at South Tipperary General Hospital must be supported by an adequate level of staff.
The midwives’ and nurses’ organisation was commenting after it was revealed that the Health Minister is supportive of locating a temporary ‘patient hotel’ in the hospital’s grounds.
In a statement this afternoon, the INMO said that its members have already balloted for industrial action in protest at the staff shortage there and the impact of that shortage on the delivery of quality, safe patient care. The organisation also demanded that any beds that are brought on stream must be staffed in a way that reflects ‘the care and observation requirements of every patient needing hospitalisation’.
The organisation, which notes that the ‘patient hotel’ idea is ‘very different’ to the Scandinavian model (to which it is commonly being compared), will be raising the matter directly with local management and at a national level in the coming days.
