Nurses ‘will not tolerate A&E crisis for two years’

NURSES preparing for a winter of discontent say they won’t allow their colleagues and the patients they care for to wait two further years before the A&E crisis is addressed.

Health and safety issues for patients, a 35-hour working week and finding the best way of getting equal pay for nurses and other health professionals with degrees will also be discussed at a crunch meeting of the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) tomorrow.

No walk-outs or strike action is proposed at this point. However, anger over the situation in A&E, public service pay and the introduction of healthcare assistants is growing.