INMO asks HSE to improve Covid guidelines

The Covid cases in Ireland is growing uncontrollably for the past few weeks. As a reaction to this the Irish Nurse and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has asked the HSE to implement new strict protocols.

The organisation mainly raised concerns about the health care staffs, who has been working day and night. At present there are nearly 3,000 healthcare staffs who are staying away from their work as they are infected.

Reducing footfall in hospitals, additional PPE and a 24/7 Senior Management presence across Ireland’s health service are some of the measures suggested by the INMO to the HSE.

Phil Ní Sheaghdha, INMO General Secretary said that it is time for the HSE to ramp up safety plans and introduce critical emergency protocols.

“We have safety protocols that have been tweaked since March of last year – the level of pandemic we face now means many need a total overhaul or serious upgrade,” she said.

“The EU biological agent directive was adopted in Ireland in November. It requires the HSE to risk assess and adopt their approach to staff safety – this is the ask and the requirement.”

For improving the safety measures of the staffs, the INMO asks HSE to improve their communication with the staffs, thus they will have an idea of what all changes to bring in at each hospitals.

Some nurses have expressed frustration and upset that they were not prioritised when initial doses of the Covid-19 vaccine were given to staff members this week. If proper communication happens with the authority, then this could be cleared and the standards could be raised.