Health unions call for urgent action on medical staffing

The younion and GÖD public service unions have called for urgent negotiations on measures to address training needs in healthcare in response to an interim report on changes to the nursing and care act. The unions say that around 67000 care workers need to be trained over the next 10 years. However, there have been worrying declines in those completing training in recent years with a 20% fall between 2014 and 2017. Younion and GÖD are calling for more resources to boost training provision including pay for trainees but also better pay and conditions in general for health worker in order to

The HSSMS-MT nursing union has joined with other nursing organisations in submitting a series of demands on the government to address the urgent problem of understaffing resulting from emigration and retirement. The joint document highlights the increased pressure that the health service faces and the failure of recent governments to provide solutions. The unions and associations want to see proper recognition of qualifications and responsibilities in the job and pay structure and recruitment of more staff. They are also calling for clear plan to address training and education needs.

A planned series of protests by the FNV trade union was suspended earlier this month following an initial commitment from the government to additional funding for the ambulance service. The union had set 15 November as the first day of action in a campaign to highlight the issue of serious staff shortages which had led to 20 of the 24 regional services failing to meet performance targets. The campaign has been suspended until 15 January on the basis of the health minister's proposal for an extra EUR 10 million a year for training and recruitment and a one-off investment of EUR 5.7 million to