Health service dispute - Consultants row will only deepen crisis

AS THE bitter dispute between nurses and the Health Service Executive gets ever deeper, the Government faces another major row as highly-paid consultants threaten to thwart its bid to smash Ireland’s two-tier health system.

In this explosive scenario, patients are the unwitting victims of rapidly deepening cracks in the health service. Increasingly, they are at risk.

Luckily, no major incidents occurred during yesterday’s one-hour work stoppage by nurses at hospitals in Dublin and Clonmel. But with the nationwide work-to-rule continuing, and further disruptive action due to hit hospitals countrywide, including Dublin and Roscommon tomorrow, the danger of a tragedy looms.