Psychiatric nurses stage protest at Galway hospital

Up to 20 psychiatric nurses are protesting at the entrance to Merlin Park Hospital in Co Galway this afternoon.

Staff are calling on the HSE to address what they say are "unacceptable levels of assaults on nurses" at the child and adolescent unit.

Since the opening of the unit a year ago, nurses have suffered in excess of 190 assaults.

The protest is part of industrial action that has been ongoing at the hospital for the last four weeks.