The National Maternity Hospital in Dublin has said it is facing its "worst-ever" staffing crisis and is calling on the Government to introduce an extra allowance to help retain healthcare staff in the capital.
The hospital currently has around 40 vacancies, with the number of people leaving their jobs doubling compared with this time last year.
Director of Midwifery and Nursing Mary Brosnan said while retaining staff was proving increasingly difficult, it was not unique to the National Maternity Hospital or other maternity units and is a problem that healthcare workers are facing across Dublin.
Since Covid-19, greater numbers of younger graduates have been unable to afford to stay in Dublin due to high rents and she said "something radical has to be done about either a cost-of-living allowance for people working in city centre hospitals or an effort to look at accommodation for healthcare workers".
Sixty-three staff members at the National Maternity Hospital left their posts this year including 11 retirees, 15 going abroad, and 22 leaving Dublin to relocate elsewhere in Ireland.
"All of them have mentioned the cost of living or their lease expiring and the rent going up or the rent being unaffordable," Ms Brosnan said.
"We are getting graduates coming through the system of course, and we are getting overseas recruits coming through but they are going to face the same problem of finding somewhere to live within a commutable distance of the city.
"I don't expect that people can afford to buy or live in Dublin 2 always, but I think a reasonable commute to work, in an essential role like midwifery or nursing is something we have to really address as an urgent need," she said.
She said things are very safe at the hospital but this is about looking one to two years ahead:
"Yes, we have occasional gaps in the rosters and we will be challenged over the winter, particularly if we have a very high level of sick leave with Covid or a lot of flu," she said.
"But if the trend towards cost of living in Dublin continues, it won't just be ourselves but I think it's going to be across a lot of hospitals that will face that difficulty," she added.
"We're not looking at going back to nurses homes but we are looking at something radical to be done around healthcare workers accommodation," Ms Brosnan said.
