Drogheda A&E nurses meet to consider strike

NURSES at the accident and emergency department in Drogheda meet today to consider the threat of all out strike.

The nurses are pursuing safer staffing levels and improved patient conditions.

Nurses at the accident and emergency department at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda are on a work to rule since Monday and refuse to carry out non-nursing duties, such as answering phones and pushing trolleys.

Irish Nurses Organisation Industrial relations officer, Patsy Doyle, said unless the health board releases the necessary resources into the system, the accident and emergency nurses will escalate their action and will order a full work stoppage.

“Our members have reached breaking point. They are committed to providing a safe service. But the North Eastern Health Board will not hear what they are saying on behalf of their patients. The solution is one additional nurse per shift. There must be no compromise or constraints on preserving the lives of patients in the North Eastern Health Board,” she said.

Meanwhile, 17 ambulance staff who abandoned their fleets at St Luke’s Hospital in Kilkenny on Monday were back at work yesterday. The unofficial dispute, which did not impact on 999 calls, centred on the manner in which routine trips to Dublin with non-emergency patients were ended and the service contracted out to a private operator on Friday last.

The service remains contracted out. However, a new, tentative arrangement has been put in place to ensure that there will be no knock-on effects for existing emergency medical technician staff formerly involved in the Dublin runs.

“Nobody will lose their job, wages or working hours until such time as talks on the service are concluded,” assistant SIPTU branch secretary, Bill Mulcahy said.

“The dispute on Monday was more to do with the health board imposing the changes without sitting down to discuss them than with the issue itself. We can’t stop this change. Our problem was the change of attitude within the health board whereby substantial changes were just announced, without talks or negotiations.”

EMT’s say there can’t be change, without negotiation. “I fear if the attitude at board level does not change, it could be a poor year for industrial relations. I hope I’m wrong. We don’t need disruption,” he added.