Chaos warning as nurses' walkout goes ahead

Ireland’s healthcare system faces chaos after accident and emergency nurses said they would start strike action tomorrow.

After talks throughout the afternoon it was announced that a two-hour stoppage would be carried out tomorrow, although threats of further action next week have been put in hold.

It will be the first time in living memory that all nurses have withdrawn from A&E wards in Ireland, and consultants have warned of the ‘‘potential for disaster’’ for patients.

Up to 800 nurses, from the Irish Nurses Organisation and the union Siptu, in 30 hospitals across Ireland, will join the two hour walkout from noon and form pickets.

They are complaining about overcrowding of wards and have called for more administrative structures and consultants.

Despite the fact that emergency teams of nurses will be on standby to assist in resuscitation and in life threatening situations, doctors have warned of dire consequences.

The Irish Association of Emergency Medicine, which represents emergency hospital consultants, warned that the health service faced total collapse, describing the action as a ‘‘national crisis’’.

Patrick Plunkett, consultant in emergency medicine at St James’ Hospital in Dublin, called for the strike to be abandoned, saying the threat alone had been enough to put the Government ‘‘on the ropes’’.

‘‘All patients in emergency departments are in crisis. This action, if the nurses leave the emergency departments, will put more of them into deeper crisis and there is potential for disaster for individual patients,’’ he said.

‘‘It will be horrendous for all workers in the health service and their patients,’’ he added.

He said doctors may have to carry out the duties of nurses, for which they may not be fully trained.

But tonight the Irish Medical Organisation told doctors: ‘‘Members should continue to work normally and should not undertake any additional duties arising from the proposed dispute.’’

Last night, the Health Service Employers Association proposed a working group to review the role and grade of bed managers in hospitals, promised 27 additional A&E consultants and new A&E units in a number of hospitals.

But the Irish Nurses Organisation said the action would go ahead after its representatives and others from Siptu held talks with the Association.

Tomorrow’s action will be followed by an ongoing ‘‘work to rule’’ involving the withdrawal of nurses from clerical and administrative duties.

The Department of Health said tonight that Health Minister Micheal Martin was ‘‘extremely disappointed’’ that the strike was going ahead.

In a statement, the department said: ‘‘As late as this afternoon discussions were continuing on the actions that could be taken to relieve the pressures on the staff and very positive progress was being made to improve the situation on the ground.

‘‘Minister Martin appeals to the Nursing Alliance to reconsider its position even at this late stage in the interest of patient care and safety.’’

But Liz McManus, the Labour Party’s spokeswoman on health, said the stoppage showed an ‘‘absolute sense of frustration’’ among nurses at ‘‘appalling conditions that both patients and staff have to endure in many A&E departments’’.

She said: ‘‘This is not a situation that has developed overnight. Nurses and other staff have been warning of a deteriorating situation in A&E departments, but the Minister has again failed to heed the warnings and his reaction has been, once again, too little too late.’’