Nurse speaks of her distress over losing job

Published 30 Apr 2009 09:00 0 Comments

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A highly-trained young nurse working at the Erne Hospital has spoken of her distress at being told her contract was not being renewed after almost three years caring for patients at the Enniskillen hospital.

The nurse talked about her job uncertainty as local MLA, Mr. Tommy Gallagher spoke out at the Assembly, opposing proposed cuts of more than 700 nursing posts across Northern Ireland. 'The Western Health and Social Care Trust will lose more than 130 posts, and we have been told by the health authorities - at a number of different levels - that that will be taken care of through natural wastage. We are asked to believe that it will be all right. The reality is that I have had nurses come to me in recent months - well-trained, highly-qualified nurses and many of them young - who have had notification in writing that their contracts are coming to an end. They do not know what the future holds for them,' he said.

The nurse, who asked not to be named, explained: 'I was working for nearly three years with the Western Trust and prior to that the Sperrin Lakeland Trust on one ward in the Erne Hospital. They terminated my two-year contract at the end of March. They have just given me a short contract in another part of the hospital'. That contract will be up in a matter of weeks.

'I have always been temporary. The only thing I was told in September, but never got written confirmation for it, that posts were coming up last year for permanent posts. Then before Christmas my manager called me in to say those posts will no longer be available. My manager fought fairly hard to keep me but the contract was not renewed,' she said.

'You just feel like you don"t matter,' she said.

'I never honestly expected it would come to the fact of my contract not being renewed. Every time it expired prior to this it was renewed. I haven"t been told exactly why,' she said.

She believes she is not alone in the uncertainty she faces. 'I do not think a lot of the nurses from Omagh have been slotted into their posts yet,' she added, referring to the nursing staff transferred to the Erne when the Tyrone County Hospital ceased providing acute services earlier this year. 'It is not very fair on them either,' she said. 'It is a very difficult time for nurses in hospital generally,' she said.

At the Assembly debate, Mr. Gallagher said proposed cuts of nursing staff would be a waste of human and professional resources. A member of the Assembly health committee, he said: 'I acknowledge the commitment and professionalism of our nursing staff across Northern Ireland. They are, as I have said, true professionals. They are the people who make sure that patients are treated with care, compassion and dignity, whether in their home, in a community setting, in primary care, or in hospital, as is often the case.

'It is a disgrace that we are now in a situation whereby more than 700 nursing posts are to be lost. This matter is so serious that it needs to be sorted out between the Health Minister and the Finance Minister, because they both have a responsibility from which they cannot escape.

'Despite the fact that nurses are such a key group of workers, we know that when these proposals were taken forward by the trusts, there was very little real, meaningful and true consultation with the nurses on the ground. That has only added to the frustration that many of them currently feel.

'Instead of cutting nursing jobs, we should be challenged by the task of finding some alternative means of employing them, if it comes to that. With regard to mental health, the situation is perhaps slightly better, but there is a great deal of room for improvement.

'If some of those nurses are now to leave our hospitals, there must be appropriate and well-resourced training so that they can move into other settings, because, at the end of the day, they are the people who will take the pressure off the Health Service ― the primary-care and secondary-care sectors in particular ― and will, with appropriate treatment, screen out many patients before they get to other levels. Therefore, we need more resources if the worst comes to the worst here with regard to working in hospitals.

'We have arrived at this point because some Members voted for the Budget, which contained the comprehensive spending review measures; unfortunately, we are now living with the consequences. I notice that the Deputy Chairperson of the Health Committee [Michelle O"Neill, Sinn Fein] described the efficiency savings as British-inspired. Yes, it is a Gordon Brown initiative and in that sense it is British-inspired, but it is here because that British-inspired initiative was voted through by Sinn Féin. Therefore it is time that we all look at the Budget afresh.'

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 30 Apr 09

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