HEALTH chiefs are proposing a 15 per cent pay rise for nurses working at Muckamore Abbey Hospital due to chronic short staffing at the scandal-hit facility.
Sources say the incentive has been put forward at the highest level in a desperate bid to attract and retain specialist nurses and other health professioanals against the backdrop of an unprecedented PSNI investigation into horrific abuse allegations.
Thirty-six staff linked to the Co Antrim hospital for adults with severe learning disabilities have been suspended following alleged physical assaults and neglect of patients captured on CCTV cameras in 2017.
The Irish News has also learned that up to 15 staff have recently resigned from Muckamore - with some nurses even refusing the pay offer.
The development comes as the north's biggest nursing trade union, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), is preparing to potentially strike for over pay and conditions, with an announcement on the outcome of a ballot on the issue due tomorrow.
RCN chief Pat Cullen last night confirmed her union had received correspondence last month from the Department of Health's top civil servant, Richard Pengelly, about the pay rise proposal.
She said the move "perfectly illustrates" how the "recruitment and retention crisis in Northern Ireland" has forced them to "resort to this position".
"I have never known this to happen before and while we welcome the department's endeavours to try to sustain a service under immense pressure and provide care for the most vulnerable patients in our society, it also represents the lack of workforce planning for nurses," she said.
She added: "The trade unions offered some suggestions to department as to how this could be managed (the pay increase)...however there has been no further communication with the joint trade unions and the department seems to have gone ahead with the initial proposal that was put on the table in that initial letter from Mr Pengelly...it has now been finalised. If we had been in a position to negotiate we would suggest he needs to increase the 15 per cent offer."
Fears about Muckamore's staffing crisis have been heightened due to limited Christmas cover and the facility's increasing reliance on English agency nurses - many of whom are taking holiday leave.
One senior health official said Belfast health trust management are "very worried" about the sustainability of the hospital and were looking to other trusts for "backup".
In his letter to trade unions, Mr Pengelly said the proposed pay hike would be offered to registered nurses willing to be redeployed from other health trusts to Muckamore on a "temporary basis".
Healthcare professionals, including nurses and healthcare assistants, currently working at Muckamore will also be offered the wage increase.
Assurances have been given that those staff under 'precautionary suspension' will not be awarded the pay increase - though sources say its remains unclear if this is the case and may be "open to legal dispute".
Families of patients affected by the abuse allegations were privately informed of the plans at a meeting with senior department officials earlier this week.
Representatives from the The Society of Parents and Friends at Muckamore Abbey attended Monday evening's event at which suggestions were also put forward to create a telephone helpline.
Dundonald man Glynn Brown, whose son Aaron is a patient at Muckamore and who has campaigned for a public inquiry, was among those present.
"We were told that a large number of staff have left Muckamore and that the department is waiting on other health trusts to come back next week with contingency plans as to how they'll keep the place afloat," he said.
"Last Christmas was a disaster with the trust being forced to close the hospital's Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit with 17 staff suspended. But now there's an extra 20 suspensions and so many are leaving. There is real concern among the families about what's going to happen."
A department spokeswoman confirmed it had been "in discussions" with trusts regarding the provision of registered nurses to "support the continued delivery of safe and effective nursing care at Muckamore".
"This is a health and social care system response which will be a temporary move to support the very stretched and dedicated nursing team to ensure the sustainability of services at Muckamore as residents transition to community placements within their host trusts," she said.
