The Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) has announced that it will begin targeted industrial action today 17th September in the counties of Mayo, Galway, and Roscommon. This action comes in response to the Health Service Executive’s (HSE) refusal to recruit all new graduate psychiatric nurses in these regions.
The industrial action will take the form of a “work to rule,” which means that nurses will strictly adhere to the terms of their contracts without engaging in any additional duties or overtime in the affected areas.
Peter Hughes, General Secretary of the PNA, emphasized the critical importance of recruiting up to 300 new graduate psychiatric nurses to address chronic understaffing in mental health services. The shortage has been deemed impacting daily service delivery and putting immense pressure on the system.
“While PNA has secured nurse graduate positions in most areas of the country the issue has not been resolved in, Mayo, Galway, and Roscommon. This is hugely disappointing given the progress achieved in the rest of the country over the past week. This flies in the face of HSE assurance given last February 2024 that all graduate psychiatric nurses would be recruited into our services.”
Hughes expressed concern that the failure to recruit these graduates could result in them seeking employment in the private sector or abroad, at a time when Ireland’s mental health services are grappling with over 700 vacancies. He warned that the system is currently being sustained through the extensive use of agency staff and overtime.
Despite ongoing negotiations with the HSE, Hughes criticized what he described as the “lack of urgency” in resolving the recruitment issue in the remaining areas.
In light of the stalemate, the PNA has decided to move forward with industrial action starting Tuesday, 17th September. The action will focus on mental health services in regions where new graduates have not been offered permanent contracts.
The PNA believes this is the only way to safeguard the future of our mental health services and ensure that graduates are not lost to other opportunities.
Discover more from African Nurses Ireland
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
