HSE have plan in place ahead of nurses strike

Photo © Pat Flynn

The HSE has put a plan in place ahead of tomorrow’s nurses strike.

37 thousand members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation will stage the first in a series of 24 hour strikes.

The union spent 8 hours at the negotiating table with the HSE and government officials yesterday to try and resolve the row over pay and conditions but no breakthrough was reached.

CEO of the UL Hospital Group Collette Cowan says plans are in place to ensure there will be some level of staff at ward level and emergency departments tomorrow.

However she says the there will be a huge impact on the majority of services

Meanwhile 587 patients are waiting on trolleys at hospitals nationwide today.

According to figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, University Hospital Limerick is the busiest with 59 patients on trolleys.

There are 56 people without beds at Cork University Hospital, and 53 patients waiting on trolleys at University Hospital Galway.

At South Tipp General in Clonmel the union reports 33 patients without a bed this lunchtime.