Health service disputes could spiral out of control, warns Labour

THERE is a real danger disputes in the health service will spiral out of control, the Labour Party warned yesterday.

There was no sign of talks in the nurses’ dispute and it seemed certain hospital consultants would follow nurses in taking industrial action, said the party’s deputy leader and health spokeswoman, Liz McManus.

“There now appears to be a real danger of the industrial relations situation in the health service spiralling out of control,” she said.

About 1,000 nurses picketed hospitals and psychiatric services in Sligo, Louth and Cork yesterday during a one-hour work stoppage.

It was the third day of stoppages by members of the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) and Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) as part of their campaign for a 35-hour working week and a 10% pay increase.

From 11am until noon nurses staged protests outside Sligo General Hospital and Sligo/Leitrim Mental health Services; Louth County Hospital and Dundalk and Louth mental health services; Bantry General Hospital and West Cork Mental Health Services.

INO and PNA members also protested at the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin last night when Health Minister Mary Harney visited the facility to unveil a treadmill. Nurses taking part in the protest urged the minister to create a forum for meaningful discussions.

A work-to-rule remains in place nationwide with nurses and midwives refusing to carry out duties such as answering phones, IT inputting and clerical work.

One-hour stoppages will be staged by nurses today at St James’s Hospital, Dublin; St Patrick’s Psychiatric Hospital, Dublin; Portlaoise General Hospital and Laois/Offaly Mental Health Services; Ennis General Hospital and Clare Mental Health Services.

INO general secretary Liam Doran said patients were telling nurses they had not lost out because of the dispute: “All essential emergency care has been given and we have agreed on contingency plans about critical care areas. We constantly work at making sure patients do not suffer.”

But the Health Service Executive (HSE) claimed the work-to-rule was having a corrosive effect on services and was threatening to impact on patient safety.

It said that after three work-stoppage days around 70 procedures had been deferred and outpatient clinics and some hospital theatres were behind schedule.

HSE hospital networks manager Gerry O’Dwyer said the work-to-rule was having a more insidious effect and patients’ care is being compromised by the interruptions to the normal flow of service.