Midwives may strike in bid to get more staff

DISGRUNTLED midwives at Wexford General Hospital meet today to consider industrial action in a last-ditch effort to force hospital management to employ extra staff.

The lives of mothers and babies are being put at risk on a daily basis because of inadequate staffing levels at the hospital, nurses working there say. The Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) wrote to the South Eastern Health Board's CEO yesterday requesting an urgent meeting.

And today, industrial relations officer Tony Fitzpatrick is meeting with midwives working at the increasingly busy unit.