Beaumont nurses to ballot on strike action

Delegates at the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) annual conference have unanimously supported the decision of 900 nurses in Beaumont Hospital to ballot for industrial action.

The Beaumont nurses are taking the action in response to the hospital's decision to place beds on corridors and behind doors throughout the hospital in an attempt to manage A&E overcrowding, the INMO said.

Beaumont announced yesterday that it was closing 52 beds as a savings measure. The INMO said the hospital was removing an additional 10 beds currently available as overflow for the emergency department.

The INMO conference in Co Meath was told it defied all sense and reason to place beds in unsafe locations at the hospital, while at the same time closing down 62 perfectly suitable beds.

The result of the nurses' ballot at Beaumont will be known on May 20.

Meanwhile, Labour party health spokesperson Jan O'Sullivan said the Beaumont bed closures and similar closures in other hospitals would cause misery for patients and should be stopped.

"Cutbacks should not be focused at the coalface of health service delivery. They could very well start with the projected €18.4 million the HSE has said it will spend on 'external advice' this year," she said.

[Posted: Fri 07/05/2010]