Nurses and Midwives are protesting against unsafe staffing levels and overcrowding in the country’s hospitals.
The latest figures show that there are over 80 people without a bed at the main hospitals serving Tipperary this afternoon.
INMO members are mobilising after the HSE admitted having no plan in place for the coming winter.
The lunchtime protests in Kilkenny and Cavan are the latest in a series which began last week in Galway, Cork and Limerick.
They’re warning the lack of recruitment or cut back in services could lead to unplanned cancellations of elective appointments.
The strikes come as the numbers on trolleys at hospitals across the country today is up by a third on this time last year.
There are over 80 people without a bed at the main hospitals serving Tipperary this afternoon.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation is reporting 56 patients being cared for on trolleys or in overflow areas of wards at University Hospital Limerick.
The hospital – which serves North Tipp – is by far the most overcrowded in the country today. Cork University Hospital is next in line with 35.
Front line staff at South Tipp General are also extremely busy today – the nursing union reports 28 people without a bed at the Clonmel hospital.
Nationally there are 434 patients in a similar situation today.
