Poll of 760 workers found more than 90 per cent said they were being forced to compromise on care due to understaffing<\/p>\n
More than half of nursing home staff believe that staff shortages are affecting the quality of care residents receive, while more than four-in-five say they didn\u2019t have enough time to provide residents with the care they need, a new survey has found.<\/p>\n
The poll of 760 staff\u00a0 \u2013 mostly health care assistants \u2013 conducted by trade union SIPTU also found that 43 per cent reported working in a nursing home that is \u2018rarely\u2019 or \u2018never\u2019 adequately staffed.<\/p>\n
More than 90 per cent of respondents said they were being forced to compromise on care due to understaffing. Over half (56 per cent) of respondents said that care tasks are sometimes skipped due to time pressure or short staffing, while 30 per cent said these tasks are regularly skipped for these reasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cChronic understaffing is the result of the state\u2019s refusal to value care work, undermining care for elderly residents in Ireland\u2019s nursing homes,\u201d said SIPTU\u2019s head of strategic organising Darragh O\u2019Connor.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe urge the Government to act now and introduce a clear mechanism to improve pay and conditions for healthcare workers in the private sector.\u201d<\/p>\n
The survey found that 49 per cent of private nursing home health care assistants are actively looking for work in another sector, with low pay cited as the biggest push factor (78 per cent), followed by stress and burnout (71 per cent).<\/p>\n
\u201cThe findings of the report serve as an urgent warning to employers and the Government on the worsening crisis within the private nursing home sector, which is threatening the care of our elderly citizens,\u201d said SIPTU sector organiser Liz Cloherty.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe conclusions are clear: it is not possible to maintain high standards of care with a workforce that is burnt-out, underpaid and actively looking to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n
The survey also gathered reactions from workers dealing with the personal impacts of staff shortages. \u201cI go home crying because I know I didn\u2019t get to spend time with \u2018Mary\u2019 or \u2018John\u2019 because I was too busy covering for short staff,\u201d one worker said. \u201cIt feels like we are failing them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another added: \u201cResidents are left alone for long periods. We don\u2019t have time to sit and talk to them, just task, task, task. It\u2019s heartbreaking.\u201d<\/p>\n
One worker emphasised the close bond workers can have with the people they care for: \u201cWe are the residents\u2019 family. We are the ones holding their hands when they die. We just want to be respected for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Launching the survey, health care assistant Martha Buckley, said: \u201cI see firsthand that our work is the heartbeat of the nursing home; we don\u2019t just provide clinical support, we provide the companionship, reassurance and dignity that turn a place of care into a true home for residents. Our roles can involve intense physical and emotional labour, yet the true \u2018hard work\u2019 often goes unseen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Poll of 760 workers found more than 90 per cent said they were being forced to compromise on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[78],"tags":[18,135,211177,19,17,211178,3456,211179,31825,70860],"class_list":["post-482941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-eire","tag-health","tag-health-care-assistants","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-long-term-residential-care","tag-nursing-homes","tag-quality-of-care","tag-siptu","tag-staff-shortages"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116568506371103353","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}