Nurses’ sick leave at 12% in Ennis hospital

Growing concern about the increase in absenteeism among nursing staff at Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Ennis Hospital has prompted calls for an official investigation into the causes of this long-running problem.

A Health Service Executive (HSE) report has found the level of sick leave is now running at 12% amongst nurses in Ennis, almost four times the national target of 3.5% and up from 9.43% last September.
According to the HSE’s HealthStat Dashboard, Ennis hospital recorded a 12% absenteeism rate for nurses in January, all of which is certified. Of that total, about 3.5% is long-term.
With over 100 nurses working in Ennis, up to 12 nurses on average are off sick on any one day. The sick-leave rate is double the percentage of staff hours lost to absenteeism at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Limerick.
Overall, absenteeism in the hospital was 8.5% and it was also high for general support (7.8%) and other patient and client care (7.8%). Medical/dental was almost 9% while management administrative was 4%. This resulted in a red light for hours lost due to absenteeism under the HealthStat performance indicator.
However, the hospital did perform well in a number of performance indicators, scoring a green light overall for the delivery of services. It also did well in routine outpatient physiotherapy wait times, emergency department waiting times and urgent colonoscopy.
Irish Nurses and Midwives’ Organisation (INMO) representative Mary Fogarty has called for an official investigation into the causes of high sick leave at the hospital.
She confirmed the nursing union has consistently raised a number of issues concerning work-related stress at Ennis hospital and would welcome any investigation of this problem.
Ms Fogarty revealed that about three weeks ago, one nurse had to look after 22 patients because of ongoing staffing shortages. This was, she said, grossly unfair as no nurse could take responsibility for providing a proper, safe standard of care to that number of patients.
She stated a number of nurses at the hospital were out sick as a result of genuine illnesses such as back injuries as a result of working in a very stressful environment.
Even though Ennis Hospital has only capacity for about 50 in-patients, she pointed out nurses were regularly struggling trying to cope with between 60 and 70 in-patients.
Furthermore, between 20 and 25 nurses from Ennis hospital retired over the last two years and none of these nurses were replaced.
“No one wants to see high levels of absenteeism in Ennis hospital. Someone has to find out the root cause and take the necessary action. It is accepted that the levels of sick leave are too high and this has been an ongoing problem
“Morale at the hospital is very low and the hospital has taken a number of hits in a number of reports in recent years. I don’t see the HSE taking any measures to support staff or to find out why the level is so high,” she said.
Her call for an investigation is supported by Councillor Brian Meaney, who has raised the issue with senior HSE officials.
Councillor Meaney said he was advised the HSE is taking corrective action to tackle this issue.
Expressing grave concern about the high percentage of absenteeism among nurses in Ennis hospital, he warned current levels are unsustainable and stressed this problem has to be addressed as quickly as possible.
He questioned the amount of certified leave being given to nurses and claimed some doctors appeared to be giving out sick certificates to employees who were not seriously ill.
He also alleged some employees seem to view uncertified sick days as their entitlement and took them regardless of whether they were seriously ill or not.
The Mid-West HSE declined to respond to a number of Clare Champion queries at the time of going to press.
However, when this issue was raised last December, the health authority accepted that the level of absenteeism in Ennis is high, despite the implementation of its Managing Attendance Policy. These include referrals to occupational health, return-to-work interviews and certification of absence.