INFTO Nurses & Healthcare Workers
Transparency, Compassion, Accountability
The Irish Nurses for Transparency and Openness is a growing not for profit organisation of Nurses, Paramedics and Healthcare Workers. We are dedicated to ensuring fair treatment for healthcare workers and their patients throughout Ireland. If you would like to join us you can click below, complete your details and one of our dedicated team will reach out to you in confidence to discuss more about our organisation, our principles and our ethos.
I am a 44 year old previously healthy active lady and am currently an inpatient in (hospital redacted) I have been on antibiotics for 3 weeks and am still not better. The vaccine set off a chain of events that has required me to be hospitalised on two occasions and I have had two A&E visits along with multiple doctor visits. I have been diagnosed with pneumonia, pleural effusions, fluid around one side of the heart and sinus tachycardia.
I have had multiple tests and they do not know why my heart is beating so fast the doctor and several nurses have said it is more than likely the vaccine and I may just have to learn to live with it. They have said there is multiple people in here with the same symptoms.
I myself have spoke to several people who all appear to be vaccine injured I am currently in a ward with almost 30 people and it appears half are here after the vaccine several with blood clots, a 16 year old with severe headaches and blacking out who had the first Pfizer a week ago. There are two 19 year old girls who have difficulty breathing and chest pain within days of vaccine.
When I was in A&E on Friday night a 23 year old came in and was brought to resus with a high heart rate he had the Pfizer vaccine that day.
I have spoken to several other people who are severely sick within days of vaccine some with seizures, some with blood clots, some tachycardia.
The doctors and nurses seem to be aware of what is going on. I just want the medical treatment to make me better and to get back on with my life.
I took the vaccine in good faith trying to do the right thing and because I felt pressured and was scared but now I am scared that I won’t get better and won’t receive the help I need and that is even scarier.
Please share my story, I would like to speak to a journalist or anybody who can help tell my story and warn other people.
The INFTO is a group of concerned nurses and healthcare workers from across Ireland. We would like to raise concerns about a number of issues that have taken place in our healthcare facilities since March 2020.
Some of the issues include but are not limited to:
Of the hundreds of nurses and healthcare workers that have contacted us to voice their concerns, some have bravely stepped forward to speak to two journalists of intergrity in an effort to get their concerns published and raised publicly. A sample of some of those testimonies are detailed below.
"I work in a facility caring for long term patients with physical and intellectual disabilities. I witnessed a team of CNM's arriving on the ward to inject patients, the best way to describe what I saw would be like seeing a swarm of insects around the patients. No letters of consent could be found on the patient files. None of the injections were recorded on the patient files or records. I have concerns around the ongoing isolation of the patients and failure to allow the patients access to proper facilities and care"
Registered Nurse - Munster
"I have witnessed patients that were moments from death with terminal illnesses such as stage 4 cancer, being swabbed and subjected to PCR testing - presumably so the patient could be registered as a Covid death. I witnessed elderly patients that management described as "bed blockers" being removed from hospital wards en-masse to be sent to nursing homes with outbreaks of Covid-19 that had no proper staffing, PPE or care protocols in place. I believe the elderly patients were sent to the nursing homes to die"
Senior Nurse - Dublin
"I have serious concerns about the number of previously healthy patients presenting with heart problems such as myocarditis and pericarditis. I witnessed a patient file that originally had "AZ Vaccination Injury?" changed and a senior member of the hospital dismiss the queried vaccination injury. There was no acknowledgement of the vaccine as a potential causative factor of illness despite the patient being fit and healthy previously. The patient now requires lifelong medication to manage the condition."
Senior Surgical Nurse - Dublin
"I have just come off my shift as an ED nurse. The Covid care pathway has been closed. I spent my shift caring for 2 suspected Covid patients who were being treated in open cubicles alongside non-Covid patients. These suspected Covid patients spent at least 15 hours beside a neutropenic patient with a weakened immune system.
I have serious concerns about the number of young people presenting with heart and clotting issues. The HPRA reporting is not accurate and nobody seems to be acknowledging that these issues could possibly be related to the rollout"
Emergency Dept. Nurse - Munster
"I am a registered nurse but no longer work with the HSE. I am helping patients who have been injured by the vaccinations. A number of my patients are suffering from clotting and adverse reactions. Often the issues arise at the location of previous trauma where the patient may have had an operation or at the site of pre existing conditions in their legs or other limbs. Some of the patients I am helping are likely to be on medication for the rest of their lives. I am appealing to the INFTO to try help to get some financial support for one of my patients to see a cardiologist privately and also help this patient to get some legal advice to explore avenues for vaccine injury compensation."
Registered Nurse - South West
"I have raised number of concerns in management meetings around informed consent for patients and coercion and discrimination of staff. None of these concerns have been addressed. I am also seriously concerned about being instructed by the HSE to have vaccine hesitant staff complete risk assessment forms. I am worried that if I ask my direct reports to complete these forms and they are then coerced into taking the vaccination or discriminated against because of their refusal, that I may be complicit. I would like to get some legal advice on this if the INFTO could help me please"
Clincal Nurse Manager - Leinster
The first story from a concerned nurse with major concerns around presentations to our hospitals was filed with the News Editor of the Irish Times on 15th July 2021.
Since that time, a number of other nurses stepped forward to speak with Paul Cullen, Health Editor of the Irish Times. This took great courage from the nurses concerned and Paul spent a lot of time speaking with nurses and working on their stories. Paul filed stories with two News Editors with the Irish Times and to date the Irish Times have failed to publish those stories. The reasons for the failure to publish are unclear.
On the 18th August an urgent appeal was sent by email to all TD's in Ireland. A second appeal was sent on the 8th September.
A number of TD's have agreed to meet the INFTO in the coming days and weeks (September 2021) Unfortunately, the vast majority of TD's Including The Taoiseach, The Tanaiste, Former Health Minister Simon Harris, and Social Democrats Spokesperson on Health, Roisin Shorthall have not responded to the appeals from the INFTO.
The Irish Nurses for Transparency and Openness is a not-for-profit organisation set up to provide a confidential platform for all healthcare workers who have concerns relating to the management and delivery of care across the entire spectrum of healthcare environments throughout the Covid-19 pandemic in Ireland.
The INFTO are apolitical and non-partisan. Our aim is to listen to the varied and real concerns of healthcare workers compassionately and without judgment. We aim to empower all healthcare workers with the knowledge, support and resources to ensure their concerns are heard, validated and where necessary, fully investigated.
We provide a confidential and supportive community for all healthcare workers who are willing to stand up and share their concerns publicly. We also speak on behalf of those who have been silenced or are fearful to voice their concerns in the public domain. This is to ensure the concerns and experiences of everyone can be shared publicly with anonymity through the INFTO in a manner that protects them both professionally and individually and respects their fundamental right to privacy.
We seek to build a community of like-minded healthcare workers and individuals who are aware of or who have witnessed poor, negligible or perhaps even criminal practices throughout this pandemic. Our goal is to ensure those responsible are accountable and held to account for their actions or inactions.
All healthcare workers are legally, ethically and morally bound to ensure our patients are protected from harm at all times and we must always endeavour to act with integrity. The INFTO believe that in order to fulfil our legal, ethical and moral duties, all incidents, policies and practices which do not protect patients or advocate for their individual rights must be brought to light so truth and justice can prevail.
We encourage all healthcare workers across all healthcare roles, including but not limited to Doctors, Nurses, Midwives, Healthcare Attendants or anyone who is currently or has previously been employed within the myriad of health services in Ireland and who have witnessed malpractice or situations of concern, to contact the INFTO so we listen to those concerns, provide support and offer advice on how your concerns can be addressed and dealt with through the relevant channels.
It is our belief that we are stronger together. Together, we can stand bravely in strength and unity to hold all those who have abused their position of power and authority to account. Together, we can create transformative and sustained change within our health systems and ensure our patients - the most vulnerable members of our society - are treated with the dignity, care and respect they deserve.
We are a grassroots organisation set up to support and address the concerns of healthcare workers. While the majority of our members are Nurses and Midwives, we welcome men and women in all areas of healthcare to contact us to chat more about joining our growing organisation. If you would like to volunteer as a support worker or offer any support to the INFTO you can contact us in confidence.
My name is Paddy Hennessy. As spokesperson for the INFTO, I am honoured to be part of a community of healthcare professionals that hold compassion, transparency and openness at their core. I am a Registered Nurse with a clinical background in intensive care nursing, clinical research and both clinician and patient education. My entire career has been centred on the management, education and support of patients with acute and chronic respiratory disease in both the hospital and homecare environments. I have held various positions throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, including direct patient care in a designated Covid-19 hospital unit and in the education of medical, nursing and allied healthcare staff on respiratory interventions.
As spokesperson for the INFTO, I would like to thank all those who have bravely contacted us to have their concerns heard. We are building a community that is growing every day, it is a community I am very proud to be a part of. I would also like to extend heartfelt thanks and gratitude to all healthcare workers in Ireland, the majority of whom have worked tirelessly to deliver exceptional care in the most difficult of circumstances.
© 2021 INFTO