Nurses work-to-rule means cancellation of operations
Some 70 nurses in Limerick Regional Hospital and Ennis and Nenagh
general hospitals are to step up their existing work-to-rule after discussions with the Mid Western Health Board ended without a resolution yesterday.
The nurses, who have been refusing to do portering, clerical or administration work since last Monday, want the standard fee for agreeing to be on call raised from 17 to 76.
They also want the rate for actually working on-call changed from a per patient fee to an hourly rate.
After negotiations ended yesterday, INO industrial relations officer Helen Rouine said the nurses were frustrated and angry.
“We have been in discussions all week and we have reached agreement that the issue could go to the Labour Court, but we could not agree the wording of the referral.
“We are very disappointed and very frustrated and we simply cannot understand management’s intransigence,” she said.
“This issue has already been agreed with nurses in the South Eastern Health Board and we wanted management to look at that solution to our problem,” she said.
Operations will certainly be cancelled next week, she said, as nurses will no longer agree to stay overtime in order to allow an operation to be finished.
A spokeswoman for the Mid Western Health Board confirmed that talks had ended without agreement and that operations are likely to be cancelled from Monday.
“The board is disappointed to note that the nursing unions have decided not to follow normal industrial
relations procedures in an attempt to resolve the dispute.
“The decision to go ahead with the escalation will mean some cancelled operations on Monday,” she said.
The board is prepared to re-open talks over the weekend, she added.
