Nurses likely to accept ruling on dispute

ALMOST 700 nurses at Sligo General Hospital are expected to accept Labour Court recommendations aimed at averting further industrial action over staff shortages at the hospital.

The court has urged that an independent review of staffing at the hospital be carried out and that there be no further lay-offs of temporary staff until that review is complete.

Members of Siptu’s nursing branch and the Irish Nurses’ Organisation, who held a one-day strike last month, will ballot their members in the coming week.

The court, which made five recommendations, also urged that the 19 temporary nurses  recently laid off  be re-engaged at locations other than Sligo hospital.

It said that the HSE should also proceed with the closure of a medical ward.

This has been a controversial issue locally with nurses accusing management of having closed the dedicated stroke unit.

The HSE has insisted that the unit is intact but is being relocated within the hospital. The Labour Court urged all parties to the dispute to abide by dispute resolution procedures in the future.

Tánaiste Mary Coughlan yesterday hit out at rumours about ward closures which she said were damaging the reputation of the hospital. She said rumours about the closure of the orthopaedic unit and the stroke unit were not true but were being “latched on to the cancer  issue”.

The Save Sligo Cancer Services group has taken out full-page advertisements in this week’s local newspapers in Sligo, Roscommon, Leitrim and Donegal  urging people to “use your vote to save your health services” and asking them to vote against Government candidates tomorrow.

The advertisement also asks readers how much has to be lost before they act  and says “how much is too much?

“Losing our cancer services, orthopaedics, stroke unit, mental health services, all outpatients, your hospital?”