Unions seek HSE talks over bed cuts

FOLLOWING a meeting of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) and SIPTU member nurses at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital yesterday, the unions have sought a meeting with HSE management tomorrow to discuss the decision to close 25 beds at the hospital.

Nurses are furious at what they said was a unilateral decision this week by the HSE taken without any consultation.

Noel Treanor, industrial relations officer with the INMO, said: “We had a very large and vocal attendance at the meeting and there is a lot of anger.

“Provisional arrangements have been made to meet management on Wednesday at 4pm and we are proceeding with that.

“We are very unhappy with the implications of these bed closures and we are going to look for certain guarantees from management regarding the provision of services.”

As well as the bed closures, the HSE said the hiring of agency doctors and nurses at the hospital will also be cut.

The hospital budget for 2011 is already at crisis levels having overrun by €14 million, the highest of any hospital in the country.

Mr Treanor said the bed cuts were a further sign of the diminishing services available in the already highly pressurised hospital.

He said: “It is not a safe environment, going forward for the people of the Mid-West.”