Health crisis worsens as nurses warn of strike

HUNDREDS of nurses are threatening strike action following a decision by management to close beds and cut nursing posts at a Dublin hospital.

And in a further setback for embattled Health Minister Micheál Martin, doctors have pledged to step up industrial action next week after talks to resolve the three-week-old public health doctors strike broke down on Thursday.

In an angry reaction to the closure of 32 beds and the axing of 30 temporary nursing posts at James Connolly Memorial Hospital, the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) has called an urgent meeting of members for Tuesday with a view to balloting on immediate industrial action. The INO represents 400 nurses at James Connolly Memorial.