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Cancer group praises ‘caring’
Donegal nurses
10.04.07
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Cooperating for Cancer
Care North West (CCCNW) has joined patients groups
and doctors to voice support for nurses maintaining
clinical services amid industrial action. |
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Culdaff-based Noelle
Duddy of CCCNW said: “I personally needed to contact
Letterkenny General Hospital last week regarding my
cancer concerns and my need was responded to
immediately, by very kind, caring, professional
nursing staff.
“Nurses will continue to do what they are best at
doing - caring for patients. If hospitals are
brought to a standstill |
because nurses are
doing their job, which is to nurse patients, then
the Health Service Executive is very, very seriously
ill.”
Meanwhile, Janette Byrne of Patients Together added:
“The health system is in a terrible state. But
patients are not suffering more because of the
nurse’s work-to-rule.
“They are waiting just as long and finding services
as hard to access as they always do – a situation
that’s completely unacceptable.
“It’s very sad to hear HSE officials blaming nurses
for a problem that never went away. Patients were
suffering long before the nurses took any type of
industrial action.”
The Doctors’ Alliance for Better Public Healthcare
said nurses were carrying out their clinical duties
as normal.
Professor John Nolan said: “In my hospital, and
we’re no exception, nurses are at work and carrying
out their clinical duties. If anything, without the
extra burden of admin and telephone answering,
nurses have more time to devote to the clinical care
of their patients,” he said.
“It’s ridiculous to say that things are worse
because of the nurses’ action – it’s a smokescreen.
Contrary to what has been suggested by the Minister
and others, things hadn’t improved in the first
place.”
All three groups believe that the way forward for
the health service is for the HSE to sit down with
health professionals and patient representative
groups at local, regional and national levels and
work out how to do things better in our hospitals,
in the community and across the service. |
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