6,000 nurses work to rule in protest at compensation

NATIONWIDE workto-rule protests by 6,000 psychiatric and mental health nurses will start today — three weeks ahead of similar action by 28,000 other health professionals.

Des Kavanagh of the Psychiatric Nurses’ Association said the Health Service Executive (HSE) has warned nurses it will cut their pay if they proceed with this morning’s action. In response, the nurses have said they will start a full-blown strike from next Wednesday.

The stand-off has been sparked by the compensation programme unveiled by the Government recently.