The Irish Nurses' Organisation has urged the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, to take "radical action" in his forthcoming Budget to address the crisis in the health service.
In its pre-Budget submission published yesterday, the INO proposes both an emergency action plan and a medium-term investment programme to resolve many difficulties in the sector, including the critical shortage of nurses.
It called on the Minister to immediately increase the starting salary of newly qualified nurses by £1,800, to £19,687, and to introduce an allowance of at least £3,000 for nurses/midwives working in the greater Dublin area.
In the medium term, it said, the new health strategy, to be published shortly, should include the creation of an additional 8,000 nursing and midwifery posts and raise the annual expenditure on health to at least 8 per cent of GDP. It also called for additional hospital beds, 1,000 extra consultant posts and devolution of decision-making and budget management and accountability to front-line professional nurses.
Mr Liam Doran, general secretary of the INO, said everyone agreed the health service was inadequate, in crisis and in immediate need of significant investment and radical reform.
"This submission maps out how this should be done and we call upon the Minister to commence radical action in this Budget by endorsing our dual action plan," he said.