Theatre nurses stage one-day work-to-rule at three hospitals
Seventy nurses at Limerick Regional Hospital and Ennis and Nenagh General Hospitals withdrew from portering, clerical and administrative duties and staged lunchtime and afternoon protests outside the hospitals.
The nurses want a significant increase in their flat fee for agreeing to be on call. They also want the system where they are paid per case for on-call duty to be changed to an hourly rate.
Nurses who agree to be on standby are currently paid 17 euro, but are seeking an increase to 76 euro.
The nurses, who are members of the Irish Nurses’ Organisation (INO) and SIPTU, have described the current pay scales as totally unacceptable. No operations were cancelled as a result of yesterday’s action. INO industrial relations officer Helen Rouine said no further action was planned, but the union would keep the situation under review.
The Mid-Western Health Board expressed disappointment at the nurses’ decision to go ahead with the industrial action. A spokeswoman said the board was willing to attend third party conciliation talks in a bid to settle the dispute.
Meanwhile the work-to-rule by ward clerks which was due to begin at University College Hospital Galway yesterday morning was suspended at the eleventh hour. The suspension is to allow for further talks between the Western Health Board and SIPTU over the threatened lay-off of 169 health care workers.
The unions representing hospital and health care staff are resisting the moves by the board to lay off the workers as part of a 1m euro budget cut demanded by the Department of Health.
