Hospitals are ignoring the new 35-hour working week law as nurses still are working a minimum of 40.
The reason is that the health service would be pushed over the edge if nurses reduced their weekly hours to the legal limit.
The nurses' professional body and nursing unions are as one in criticising the government which has delayed hiring more nurses for unexplained reasons.
NHS Hospitals up and down the country are seeing nurses ignoring the 35-hour weekly law with the nurses’ professional body stating that almost all the country’s hospitals are carrying on as normal as there are no additional nurses to fill in the gaps if nurses were to stick to the new legal limit.
The nurses association says that the Finance Ministry has not released any additional funds with which to contract new nurses, even though this was promised two weeks ago by the Health Minister, who has had ample time to prepare.
The Department of Health says that a plan is being implemented to strengthen services via an assessment of hospital needs that takes into account various things such as, "the different local and regional contexts, the structure of existing resources, the care profile, performance levels and the specific characteristics of each institution."
With this sort of nonsense in play, the government yet again has been exposed as big on promises and small on delivery, leaving nurses working illegally as they dedicate themselves to patient care rather than walking out after 35 hours work.
