It could be my imagination, but it seems to me that nurses are in higher demand than they have been over the last year.

The UK is screaming out for Irish Nurses in particular.  Unfortunately the weakening of sterling has made it less attractive for Irish nurses from a financial aspect.  There does remain though, the fact that the NHS is generally a much nicer system to work under than the HSE.  It’s not all bad here though.  And we are seeing nursing jobs begin to spring up despite the continued ban on recruitment.  Most of these jobs are private sector.

Nursing as a profession can be deeply rewarding, but threat of pay cuts and harder working conditions make it ever less attractive to school leavers, or even those who have been working as nurses for years.

It is hard work and it is sometimes dangerous work.  The plain truth of it is that nurses will always be in demand.  There will never be a time when this country is without nurses.  Just a few short years ago we were importing nurses because we could not find enough nurses to cope.  As our population ages we are going to need greater numbers of nurses again.  The cosmopolitan environment that exists in our hospitals, hospices, homes and clinics has doubtless been instrumental in aiding with cultural integration in this previously secular country.

Nurses have a lot to be proud of.  The contribution made by nurses to society is one that the nation should be eternally grateful for.  I know that nurses feel persecuted by the government, by cutbacks and by heavier workloads.  I think we may be reaching the bottom of the recessionary curve now though.  Things are looking up.

Have a look at some of the nursing jobs on offer!

Agency Nursing used to be a great fallback for Irish Nurses.  Many chose to work solely as agency nurses because of the flexibility that gave.  You could choose your hours.  You were never guaranteed a shift but it was a good likelihood as long as you were not too picky about where you worked.

Mary Harney has announced that Crumlin Childrens Hospital is overstaffed.  As professor Crown so rightly points out, closing wards by slashing budgets needed to keep them staffed does not count as over-staffing.  Increasing patient numbers are now to be dealt with with utilising severely curtailed resources.  Some are being forced to look to the UK for treatment.

This is just one example.  The message is clear.  There are to be less nursing posts.  Is this a problem for nurses?

Just a few short years ago hospitals were clambering over themselves to source staff from India because we didn’t have enough Irish staff willing to work in Irish conditions.  Together with the Filipino nursing backbone of our country the addition of large numbers of Indian staff nurses added to the wonderful mix of cultures that make up a modern Irish Hospital.

Working conditions are arguably far worse now.  Nursing is still a passport to see the world.  Now with degrees under their belts, newly qualified nurses expect more.  But it is not so easy to expect more when you need to pay your bills and feed yourself.  If I was a new graduate I would be off to see the world, working as I went.

Are agency days over?  They probably should be.  Nursing agencies only grew so big because of bad staff management in the hospitals and hospices they served.  Some Hospitals were taking in 20+ agency staff a day (nurses and carers). The bill was massive.  The reason was that the Hospitals were not approved the funding for permanent job positions that would have cost far less.  Instead they had to pay through the nose for Agency Staff.  That sort of ridiculous situation needed to stop.  Yes there will probably always be a need for Nursing Agencies to provide temporary staff.  This is not ideal, since agency staff will not know the ward they are working on as well as permanent staff.  This leads to increased workload on the permanent staff.  If an agency nurse does know the ward as well as permanent staff then that must be an indicator of a case for another permanent staff member.

Final advice: If you are a nurse and not planning to leave the country get yourself into permanent employment as quickly as you can.  The current situation is not going to ease in the near future.

Hospital Hygiene Ratings for HSE Hospitals

Here are the all the hospital hygiene ratings results for all HSE hospitals.

Hospital Name	HSE Audit 1 2006 (%)	HSE Audit 2 2006 (%)	Hygiene Review Oct 2007	Hygiene Review 2008
Bantry Hospital	82	88	Fair	Poor
Beaumont Hospital	62	86	Good	Good
Cappagh Hospital	70	90	Fair	Very Good
Cavan General Hospital	71	76	Fair	Good
Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown	76	89	Fair	Fair
Coombe Women’s Hospital	76	90	Fair	Fair
Cork University Hospital	81	83	Fair	Fair
Ennis General	68	89	Fair	Fair
Erinville/St Finbarr’s	69	80	Fair	Fair
Holles St	79	85	Fair	Fair
Kerry General, Tralee	63	88	Fair	Fair
Kilcreene Orthopaedic	73	89	Fair	Fair
Letterkenny General	71	84	Fair	Poor
Limerick Regional Maternity	73	87	Fair	Fair
Louth County Hospital	77	86	Fair	Fair
Mallow General	88	91	Poor	Fair
Mater Hospital	70	84	Fair	Fair
Mayo General	68	82	Fair	Fair
Mercy Hospital, Cork	78	79	Fair	Poor
Merlin Park Regional, Galway	85	81	Fair	Good
Mid Western Regional, Limerick	73	87	Fair	Fair
Midland Regional Hospital, Mullingar	63	94	Fair	Poor
Midland Regional, Tullamore	73	82	Fair	Fair
Midwest Regional Orthopaedic, Croom	80	90	Fair	Fair
Monaghan General	78	75	Fair	Good
Naas General	82	86	Good	Good
Nenagh General	71	92	Poor	Poor
Our Lady of Lourdes, NEHB	77	88	Poor	Poor
Our Lady’s Hospital, Crumlin	86	93	Fair	Fair
Our Lady’s Hospital, Navan	80	90	Poor	Fair
Portiuncula, Ballinasloe	80	82	Poor	Fair
Portlaoise-Midland General	65	84	Fair	Fair
Roscommon General	65	76	Poor	Poor
Rotunda Hospital	80	89	Good	Good
Royal Victoria Eye and Ear	81	93	Fair	Fair
S. Tipperary General, Clonmel	80	92	Fair	Fair
Sligo Regional Hospital	68	86	Fair	Fair
South Infirmary/Victoria, Cork	72	75	Fair	Fair
St Columcille’s, Loughlinstown	62	84	Fair	Poor
St James’s Hospital	86	86	Good	Good
St John’s, Limerick	81	92	Fair	Good
St Luke’s, Kilkenny	76	89	Good	Fair
St Luke’s, Rathgar	66	96	Fair	Fair
St Mary’s Gurranebraher	70	83	Poor	Poor
St Michael’s, Dun Laoghaire	74	84	Poor	Fair
St Vincents Hospital, Elm Park	83	83	Good	Fair
Tallaght Hospital	78	79	Good	Good
Temple St, Children’s	79	85	Fair	Good
University College Hospital, Galway	85	88	Fair	Fair
Waterford Regional	62	86	Fair	Good
Wexford General	76	85	Poor	Fair