Nurses to walk out over hours
Dozens of members of the Irish Nurses Organisation working at Bantry General Hospital are expected to walk out between 12.45pm and 1.45pm.
The organisation said direct patient care will not be affected.
The union said it wants to highlight how the HSE South has failed to implement the 37.5-hour working week for its members working in Bantry.
The national deal on the reduced week was agreed in May 2007. The implementation date was June 1, 2008. But the organisation said its branch in Bantry has been overlooked.
Organisation spokesperson Patsy Doyle said members feel marginalised by their employer and this has led to a lack of trust and confidence.
“INO members are protesting as they have seen their colleagues in the Mercy University Hospital; South Infirmary/Victoria University Hospital; Cork University Hospital; Cork University Maternity Hospital and St Mary’s Orthopaedic Hospital succeed in accessing the new national working time for nurses — 37.5 hours per week,” she said.
Ms Doyle accused the HSE of lethargy and of treating rural hospitals differently to urban hospitals.
The reduced working week has not been implemented at Bantry, Mallow or Kerry general hospitals, she said.
The Irish Nurses Organisation and HSE have been before several Labour Relations Commission hearings, but so far the organisation has been unable to get a date for implementation of the agreed new working week.
