Nurses seek ballot for industrial action at CUH unit

Nurses working in a new acute mental health unit at Cork University Hospital are seeking a ballot for industrial action just six months after the €15m facility opened.

The nurses, members of Siptu, unanimously passed a motion seeking approval from their union for the ballot because of what they claim is a breach by the HSE of an agreement the nurses signed up to ahead of the unit opening on August 5.

The agreement, hammered out between unions and management, was designed to resolve a row that delayed by seven months the opening of the 50-bed unit. Among nurses’ concerns at the time was the temporary shelving by the HSE of plans to open a six-bed, high-observation ward within the unit.