FOLLOWING an emergency meeting today the Executive Council of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has sanctioned the beginning of a consultation with nurses on a campaign of industrial action.
Speaking this afternoon, INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said, “The Executive Council of the INMO, made up of working nurses and midwives, has today taken the decision to begin a period of consultation on a campaign of industrial action in pursuance of safe staffing levels that are underpinned with legislation and clinical facilitation in all hospitals to ensure a safe skills mix.
“What has transpired this week in our hospitals was totally avoidable. For too long nurses and midwives have been warning that we were going to see an overcrowding blackspot in January unless serious and meaningful action was taken. While many will try to laud the fact that we have seen a decrease of patients on trolleys from 931 to 535, we won’t be part of attempts to justify this as an improvement.
“Nurses and midwives expect and deserve to work in a safe practice environment in which they can deliver the safe and excellent care they are trained to provide.”
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