INMO: No contingency plan for Limerick nurses' stoppage

Management at the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick have yet to put in place a contingency plan to deal with a planned work stoppage by nurses in its emergency department tomorrow, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has claimed.

Members of the INMO are planning to stage a four-hour walkout in protest at what they say is chronic overcrowding.

A further meeting involving both sides is planned for later today.

INMO regional organiser Mary Fogarty said that the nurses providing emergency cover during the stoppage have been told they will not be paid.

"We will be maintaining a minimal staffing cover within the department," said Fogarty.

"Now at the moment, the HSE are saying that they won’t pay those nurses to work within the department for the four-hour stoppage while the other people are out.

"We also have concerns that the hospital hasn’t put in place any arrangements in respect of cancellation of all elective surgeries and procedures to ensure that the emergency department is freed up."