Hospital row threatens to escalate strike action

UNREST brewing at one of the south east’s busiest hospitals could bring to 10 the number of industrial disputes at hospitals around the country.

The Irish Nurses Organisation started 2003 with a record caseload of nine theatre on-call disputes, but tensions at St Luke’s Hospital in Kilkenny could escalate.

Staff at St Luke’s Hospital, as well as supporters of the hospital and local politicians, are angry at the hospital’s failure to recruit a long-promised consultant for the accident & emergency unit at the busy, 240-bed hospital.