Nursing representatives will decide tomorrow whether to go ahead with a two-hour work stoppage planned for Wednesday.
The Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) and SIPTU are expecting proposals from the Health Service Employers Association (HSEA) later today outlining a series of initiatives aimed at easing pressure on staff working in Accident and Emergency departments.
The HSEA acknowledges staff are under pressure in A & E wards but SIPTU and the INO say discussions have so far failed to come up with a formula to avert their programme of rolling stoppages.
In a document submitted by SIPTU to the Department of Health, the union says that during consultations with its members, "it had become obvious, particularly but not exclusively in the larger Dublin hospitals, that A & E nurses were not prepared any longer to continuously, and on a daily basis, accept that severe stress and constant pressure were the norm in their daily working lives."
Nurses say overcrowding of A & E wards adversely affects patient welfare and creates unsustainable levels of stress among staff. They say new administrative structures and more consultants are requires to ease the crisis.
Their representatives will consider the HSEA’s proposals overnight and will respond tomorrow afternoon.