There’ll be increased pressure on the Emergency Department at the region’s main hospital tomorrow once the nurses strike gets underway.
Local injury units at Ennis General Hospital and Nenagh will be closed as nurses take to the picket lines in a row over pay and conditions, meaning the Dooradoyle facility will be the only functioning department in the region.
But the CEO of the UL Hospitals Group is reassuring that contingency plans are in place as Clare FM’s Fiona McGarry reports:
37 thousand members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation are due to take to the picket lines tomorrow in the first of a series of 24 hour strikes.
The union spent 8 hours at the negotiating table with the HSE and government officials yesterday to try and resolve the row over pay and conditions, but the talks ended without agreement.
The Labour Court is now considering whether there is any basis to intervene in the dispute, and will contact both sides later today.
General Secretary of the INMO Phil Ní Sheaghdha says time is running out to avoid the industrial action.
The CEO of the UL Hospitals Group is reassuring patients that contingency plans will be in place at the region’s hospitals, if the nurses strike goes ahead.
All outpatient appointments – over 700 in total – have been cancelled, along with elective surgeries, while the local injuries units at Ennis and Nenagh will be closed.
This will put increased pressure on the Emergency Department in Dooradoyle, which is already experiencing rising levels of overcrowding.
Today, there were 59 patients waiting for beds at the Hospital, according to INMO figures, 35 of those on trolleys in the ED.
But Colette Cowan says she’s not worried about the level of patient care that will be provided during tomorrow’s strike.
Meanwhile, Ms Cowan has said she’s “hopeful” that the 60-bed modular unit which aims to tackle overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick will be given the go-ahead.
Doubt was cast over the future of the facility and other planned projects on account of spiraling costs for the National Children’s Hospital.
The 60-bed modular unit was doe to open next year and Collette Cowan hopes that will still be the case.
