Nursing union seeks national health summit

THE Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) today will demand roundtable talks with the HSE on what it sees as the crisis facing the public health service.

The country’s largest nursing union said it has compiled figures showing 1,500 public beds have been closed, including beds in hospitals designated as centres of excellence.

It said this has resulted in longer waiting times for essential treatments and also very high levels of overcrowding in A&Es. INMO said on nine nights in July there were over 300 people on trolleys. That compared to just one night in July 2009.