Cancer nurses at CUH back work to rule if staffing issue not solved

A dispute over staffing levels on a cancer ward in Cork University Hospital (CUH) is headed for the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) after nurses voted in favour of industrial action.

According to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), hospital management has failed to report back on a review it agreed to last May which would examine staffing numbers and bed capacity on the GB radiotherapy ward.

Since then, six additional beds have opened on what was a 20-bed ward. The bed increase without a concomitant increase in staff means nurses cannot provide optimal care, according to union spokesperson Mary Rose Carroll.