Psychiatric nurses to reinstate overtime ban after pay talks collapse

Psychiatric nurses are to reinstate an overtime ban from Wednesday following the collapse of talks with health service management over pay issues.

The Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) said there had been a lack of meaningful progress in dealing with recruitment and retention difficulties in the mental health services at talks at the Workplace Relations Commission.

The dispute is essentially an extension of the industrial action by both psychiatric nurses and general nurses and midwives over pay and staffing issues earlier this year.

While a deal was reached with members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation which involved an extension of allowances and a new enhanced nurse contract involving higher pay, no agreement was reached with the PNA.

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An overtime ban put in place by the PNA earlier this month caused significant difficulties in some part of the mental health services.

A spokeswoman for the Minister for Health Simon Harris said he “ would encourage the PNA to use the industrial relations machinery of the state, as the employer side is willing to do, in order to avoid the action going ahead on Wednesday”. “Disruption for patients should and can be avoided,” he said.