Postcard drive to highlight A&E crisis

NURSES are planning to flood the office of Health Minister Mary Harney with thousands of postcards from people angry at conditions in hospital A&E units throughout the country.

The Irish Nurses' Organisation (INO) has produced an initial print run of 100,000 postcards highlighting the continuing severe levels of overcrowding in A&E departments.

Yesterday, the INO produced analysis of their trolley watch figures, showing an average increase of 24% in the number of patients awaiting beds in casualty departments last year.