Burnout is now said to be commonplace in nursing and midwifery and unless pay is addressed the recruitment and retention crisis will get worse in our hospitals according to the INMO.

 The nurses union was before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health this week and outlined some disturbing statistics.

They say that due to low pay it now takes an average of 6 months to recruit just one nurse.

Some vacancies, even in the emergency departments of our acute hospitals remain unfilled and many nurses are not being replaced during maternity leave.

Mayo Sinn Fein Senator Rose Conway Walsh is a member of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and she has been telling Midwest News more about what the nursing union outlined as the working conditions for many hospital nurses.