Second day of stoppages in nurses dispute
Nurses will today hold a second day of work stoppages as they continue their fight for better pay and conditions.
Hospitals in Dublin and Roscommon will be targeted as thousands of nurses walk out for one hour between 11am and midday.
Unions have given a commitment that all essential and emergency care will be provided during the stoppage.
Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital, St Ita’s Psychiatric Service and St Joseph’s Intellectual Disability Service, Portrane, Roscommon General Hospital and Roscommon Mental Health Services will be affected.
The Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) and Psychiatric Nurses Association also agreed critical treatment will not be affected, which they say will cause minimal disruption to patients but maximum disruption to management.
The Health Service Executive (HSE) said contingency plans are in place for St Ita’s and that it hopes to be in a position to provide services to clients with minimum disruption.
Some restrictions have been placed on the mental health and intellectual disability day services, outreach services and out-patient clinics and most appointments have been rescheduled for the afternoon.
Beaumont Hospital said it has been working with the INO to avoid major disruption.
Full emergency cover has been arranged and all services will run as normal, with two exceptions.
Six out of 42 scheduled endoscopy procedures have been rescheduled for next week and 20 out of 70 scheduled appointments have been rescheduled in one of the surgical outpatients clinic for over the next two weeks.
The 40,000 union members are demanding a pay increase of 10.5% and a reduction to a 35-hour working week which has been refused by the HSE.
Hour-long work stoppages took place on Wednesday at St Vincent’s in Dublin, and at South Tipperary General Hospital, where almost 30 surgical operations were cancelled.
