Nurses at the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick staged a lunchtime protest today in a row over staffing levels for acute services.
The Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) and SIPTU unions, which represent nurses, say HSE management has failed to put sufficient resources in place to deal with a reconfiguration of acute services in the region, in which emergency services at both Nenagh and Ennis were closed and centralised in Limerick.
They say the new system has caused severe overcrowding which is unsafe for patients and staff.
The unions have completed a ballot for industrial action which they say will commence in January if the HSE fails to address the causes of overcrowding.
The HSE disputes that the new service is causing overcrowding. It says that the numbers left waiting on trolleys in the emergency department of the hospital has been cut by over 50%.
