INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha at St. James Hospital yesterday morning Sam Boal Sam Boal

NURSES ACROSS THE country are set to take part in a third day of strike action tomorrow in an ongoing dispute over pay and retention issues. 

This comes after nearly 40,000 INMO nurses and midwives took part in industrial action yesterday. 

Pickets will be taking place across the country, generally from 8am to 4pm, according to the INMO. 

Three further strike days planned next week – 12, 13 and 14 February. Strikes were also announced over the weekend for 19 and 21 February.

Patient information

The HSE earlier this week confirmed that in total 50,000 patients will be affected over the two days of strike action this week.

This includes the cancellation of 13,000 out-patient appointments and 2,000 in-patient surgeries per day, as well as routine community nursing operations being cancelled.  

The HSE this evening said discussions are ongoing with the INMO in relation to securing exemptions to allow for major surgeries, including cancer, to proceed. 

In the event that any procedures to go ahead, patients will be contacted directly by the hospitals. 

The HSE has confirmed that the following services will be affected tomorrow:

• All outpatient, inpatient and day surgery appointments are cancelled for tomorrow. 
• Minor injury units will be closed. 
• Routine community nursing services and health centre nurse clinics have been cancelled. 
• Public day centres and day hospitals for older people and people with disabilities will close. 
• All planned admissions, including respite and rehabilitation, to public community nursing units and specified centres for people with intellectual disability have been cancelled. 

Hospitals will be in contact with patients to re-schedule their appointments and surgeries in due course, according to the HSE. 

Updates on the strike action and services affected will be available on the HSE’s website and social media. 

Government reaction

Yesterday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar admitted that it was “discourteous” to offer to engage with the nurses’ unions at the Work Relations Commission (WRC) through a press release that was issued the night previous. 

On Monday evening, the ministers for health and finance and public expenditure issued a joint press released noting their “disappointment” that further strike action by the INMO is going ahead this week.

The statement said the government has always listened to the concerns expressed by nurses in relation to working conditions and job satisfaction as well as the patient experience, with the ministers committing to immediate engagement with the unions.

The INMO earlier this week described an invitation from the government for nursing unions to engage in negotiations on issues other than pay as “massively disrespectful” and “cynical”.

INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha announced yesterday that a rally will take place on Saturday at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin city centre at 12.30pm. 

“We’re inviting the public to join us,” Ní Sheaghdha told those gathered at St James yesterday. “We believe that it will be very well supported.”

With reporting by Cónal Thomas, Cormac Fitzgerald and Christina Finn