Figures reveal shortage in NI theatre nurses

Figures have revealed that there is a shortage of theatre nurses in Northern Ireland, which is leading to the short notice cancellation of some operations for patients.

The figures, which showed there were 36 vacancies for full-time theatre nurses in the province at the end of June, has been seen by some as one of the reasons why Northern Ireland has the longest hospital waiting lists per capita in the UK.

There are also shortages of nurses to look after patients in intensive care and high dependency after their surgery, while it has been suggested that cutting the number of scheduled operations would go some way to rectifying the situation.

Hilary Herron of the Royal College of Nursing stressed that there had long been problems recruiting theatre nurses but a recent change in the overall training regime of nurses, she said, had not helped. (MB)