Nurses 'tired of false promises' as strike planned for next week
The executive council of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) will meet this morning to discuss planned strike action at seven hospitals next week.
The meeting comes on a week when at one point almost 560 people were on trolleys in emergency departments and wards at hospitals around the country.
Last night the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation pleaded with management and the HSE to take Beaumont hospital off call - saying it was unsafe and that staff could no longer cope.
INMO general secretary Liam Doran said that members cannot take any more.
"We're obviously going to review the last few days," he said.
"They've been very, very difficult with very, very high levels of overcrowding, not just in Dublin, but right throughout the country.
"And we have to agree our next steps in the context of a day of strike action this day week in seven hospitals.
"The question of confidence, the question of trust is really under scrutiny at the moment, because our members are tired of false promises and false dawns not delivered."
A leading consultant in emergency medicine in Cork says the free GP care scheme for children under 6 has led to a 30-50% increase in the number of children in emergency departments in the county.
Dr Chris Luke of Mercy Hospital Cork says inundated GPs are referring more children to hospitals.
