Wards might close and surgical services could be cancelled at Portiuncula Hospital, Ballinasloe, because of a long-running row, the Health Service Executive has warned.
The situation at the hospital is very serious, according to the HSE.
The dispute centres on disciplinary action taken against five senior nurse managers last November.
They were suspended from duty and are now on stress-related sick leave.
Today, the HSE said it is concerned that the Irish Nurses Organisation may be about to initiate fresh industrial action and it warned of the consequences of an escalation of the dispute.
Portiuncula is a 200-bed hospital with a staff of almost 700, which serves a wide area of the west and the midlands.
The INO says its members will be staging a lunchtime protest at the hospital tomorrow, but it has no plans to engage in further industrial action.
Today, it accused the HSE of hampering and frustrating every effort to find a back-to-work solution and it again called on the hospital authorities to enter into Labour Relations Commission talks to resolve the dispute before the situation at the hospital becomes any more serious.
