INMO conference to get underway in Killarney

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) is calling on the Government to issue a revised organisational plan for the health service.

The motion is just one of 50 on the agenda for the INMO's three-day annual conference which begins in Co Kerry today under the theme 'Safe Care - Safe Practice - No Compromise'.

Hospital overcrowding and the emergency department crisis will also be up for discussion, as well as the development of primary care, and staffing levels.

Health Minister Dr James Reilly will address the conference at The Gleneagle Hotel in Killarney on Friday.

The INMO's General Secretary Liam Doran said he will tell Minister Reilly that the downsizing of the health service cannot continue.

"Recessions tend to make health services busier," he said.

"So we would strongly argue - even recognising the financial constraints - that there must be a much more shaped, targeted, nuanced approach to our health system rather than the sledgehammer that's been taken to if for the last four years."