High level of nursing vacancies at MUH

VACANCIES A meeting of the HSE Regional Health Forum West heard last week that there are currently over 70 vacant posts among the nursing and midwifery staff in Mayo University Hospital.

Anton McNulty

THE high numbers of vacancies among nursing staff is a concern, according to senior hospital staff, and reflects the difficulty in recruiting nurses.
A meeting of the HSE Regional Health Forum West heard last week that there are currently 73.59 vacant posts among the nursing and midwifery staff in Mayo University Hospital, which is the highest of all the staffing groups in the hospital.
The CEO of the Saolta University Heath Care Group, Tony Canavan informed the meeting that the high levels of vacancy was ‘a concern’ but it was not unique to the Castlebar hospital and reflects the difficulty in attracting staff.
“In Mayo there are over 1,300 staff and a very significant portion would be nursing staff. They are the largest single grouping in Mayo. Seventy-three posts is quite high but because of all the turnover of staff at all of hospital sites it is not unusual. We are seeing those levels of vacancies in all of our sites.
“It is a concern and it impacts on our ability to deliver care and look after patients in the Emergency Department and so on. It is a concern absolutely, it is higher than we experienced in previous years and reflects that fact it is more difficult to recruit currently,” he said.
Mr Canavan was responding to a question posed by Cllr Michael Kilcoyne who is member of Regional Health Forum West and said he found it ‘unbelievable’ with the number of vacant posts in the hospital.

Delay in starting
The meeting also heard that on average it takes six months to fill vacancies and due to the lack of skilled candidates in specific posts it may take longer. Mr Canavan also told Cllr Kilcoyne that work permits, garda vetting and overseas clearance may also delay successful candidates in starting their posts.
Meanwhile, Mr Canavan has asked people who attend the Emergency Department of MUH not to leave before their treatment is completed. The meeting heard that of the 39,1221 who attended the Emergency Department in 2022, 8 percent left without completing their care.
“It is not a good thing that patients leave the ED without care completed. Bearing in mind some of the patients we listed here will have started their treatment and not completed their care so that is not a good thing. It is something we would like to try to keep those figures as low as we can,” he said.