Beaumont nurses vote for industrial action in overcrowding protest

Nurses at Dublin's Beaumont Hospital have voted in favour of industrial action over emergency department overcrowding.

All of the hospital's members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation voted in favour of a work to rule on Tuesday, January 27.

The news comes a day after the INMO reported a record 593 people on trolleys across the country yesterday and follows the resignation of the HSE's Director of Acute Hospitals Dr Tony O'Connell.

Dr O'Connell was appointed last May and is leaving to return to his native Australia.

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It said he was resigning in order to join his wife who has recently been offered an academic position in an Australian university.

INMO General Secretary Liam Doran said the action at Beaumont would not impact patient care, but warned that more hospitals may follow.

"In its first phase, the action will not involve patient care in any way," he said. "Our members will withdrawing from all the statistical bureaucracy and administrative duties that the HSE has imposed on them...The nurses in Beaumont will focus on patient care."

He added: "We're balloting our members (on whether action will also be taken) in Galway, Mullingar and Limerick this week."