Mental health services curtailed despite €1m weekly bill on agency nurses
Nurses have reported having four nurses on duty when five is required. It is now so common that few complain, Psychiatric Nurses Association deputy general secretary Michael Hayes said. Picture: PA
Mental health patients are seeing services curtailed due to shortages of specialist nurses, with about €1m spent on agency nurses weekly, the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) has warned.
It comes after the Mental Health Commission raised concerns about staff shortages. They included residential units for adults and children in Cork and Limerick.
The association's deputy general secretary, Michael Hayes, said senior nurses are spending their time trying to find cover.
“There is an awful lot of people out there simply doing overtime because they know if they don’t, their colleagues are going to be short or will not be in a safe environment on that day,” he said.
He acknowledged some overtime is voluntary, but said others are coming in for half-days to help out.
“They are calling around, constantly trying: ‘Is there anyone that can do tomorrow?’," he added.
"And the reality of it is that, more often then not, our members are still working short.”
Nurses have reported having four nurses on duty when five is required. It is now so common that few complain, he said.
However, he added: “When it gets down to three or gets to two, then it becomes a very dangerous situation.”
Mr Hayes could not comment on individual units.
The commission's reports identified five vacant nursing posts in the unit linked to University Hospital Limerick (UHL). They found 10 nursing vacancies at the Cork University Hospital unit.
Additionally, the Eist Linn mental health in-patient unit for children, also in Cork, had nine nursing vacancies and was down an assistant director of nursing.
At Eist Linn, the commission warned staffing levels "were not appropriate to the assessed needs of residents.”
Mr Hayes said: “The biggest concern is total burnout."
Industrial action began on Wednesday by the Psychiatric Nurses Association and the issue was before the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) again on Monday.
Nurses have reported a growing reliance on agency staff instead of recruitment despite agreement on safe staffing levels.
“[Based on] the figures that we’ve received nationally so far, it would appear that between 2023 and 2024 there was a 10% increase in the overtime and agency budget in the HSE,” Mr Hayes said, referring to figures supplied by the HSE.
“That figure is well over €60m a year, so we are spending in excess of €1m a week on agency and overtime in the system.”
He said a nurse on the tenth or eleventh point of the pay scale earns about €50,000 a year.
He added: “A lot of them were in doing overtime, so paid at time and a half. it’s probably equivalent to 800 whole-time equivalent staff, and we are saying we have 725 vacancies.”
The Irish Patients Association called for a solution to end the work-to-rule action.
“These are not elective services — they are critical for people in crisis,” co-founder Stephen McMahon said.
“Isn’t it deeply ironic that when staff simply work to the terms of their contracts, the result is systemic disruption? That should prompt serious reflection.”
