Consultant offers to pay nurse's wages
Wednesday March 12 2008
A hospital consultant has offered to give up about €36,000 of his annual pay in a bid to hire a much-needed nurse in one of the country's busiest maternity units.
Dr David Vaughan, chairman of the medical board at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda,m made the offer in a letter outlining his serious concern at lack of midwives and neonatal nurses in maternity unit.
In the letter, a copy of which has been seen by the Irish Independent, he told hospital general manager Des O'Flynn he was very worried about the risks to mothers and babies.
"I continue to be concerned by the marked deficits in neonatal nursing and midwifery numbers in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital.
"These deficits contribute greatly to... the most important safety issue in the north-east hospital services. I have no confidence that any substantial risk reduction can be undertaken by the HSE... they have shown a failure in leadership and decision-making."
Dr Vaughan, who is clinical director at the Department of Paediatrics in the hospital, warned he was very concerned about the effects such deficits had on the safety of mothers and babies under their care.
"I am equally concerned about the health of very many dedicated nursing staff who are faced with workloads substantially greater than their peers elsewhere."
He added it was useless for the HSE to acknowledge these problems if it was unable to deliver solutions.
The leadership instead would have to come from medical, nursing and allied health professionals.
He offered to forego his sessional pay as a clinical director and asked that the money instead by used to employ, as the Director of Nursing sees fit, either a neonatal nurse or a midwife immediately.
Steps
"I realise this will not have any substantive effect on safety; however in the face of the inability of the HSE to take any meaningful action it would be hypocritical of me to continue to write letters without myself taking any concrete steps to address these concerns."
The job of clinical director is a post of responsibility for a consultant and would be worth around €600 a week.
The Co Louth hospital has come under serious pressure in recent years as it became part of Dublin's commuter belt.
Asked to comment on the lack of midwives in the hospital, a spokesperson for the HSE in the north-east said: "Recruitment of midwives has been a priority for senior midwifery and nursing management within Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital.
"During 2007, 21 additional midwives were recruited to the Department of Women's and Children's Health, nine of these included graduates from the class of 2007 in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital with an additional four graduating (from) the Scottish hospitals in 2007."
However, she conceded, "It continues to be difficult to attract experienced midwives."
There were 4,277 births at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in 2007, compared to 3,889 births in 2006.
- Eilish O'Regan Health Correspondent
