STATE OF EMERGENCY: Nurses’ strike likely as 600 are on trolleys

A widespread nurses’ strike across the country’s major accident and emergency departments is increasingly likely following a decision to extend a ballot for industrial action to hospitals plagued by emergency department overcrowding.

The ratcheting up of tensions between nurses and health service managers comes as Health Minister Leo Varadkar has been accused of going AWOL by Opposition TDs.

Mr Varadkar returns to Ireland today after a week-long holiday in the US during which time the trolley crisis unfolded. Yesterday, the trolley count reached 601 — the highest since the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) began its trolley watch initiative a decade ago.