Surgery to go ahead depite stoppage - St Vincent's

St Vincent's University Hospital in Dublin has said all scheduled surgical procedures will go ahead tomorrow despite the planned one-hour work stoppage by nurses.

Management at St Vincent's hospital today  held talks with the Irish Nurses' Organisation (INO) in an attempt to minimise the impact of tomorrow's industrial action on patients.

In a statement, the hospital said while all planned theatre procedures will go ahead, there may be some delays and patients whose procedures are affected will be kept informed.

It also warned that out-patients and day patients may face delays but it was important that patients  attend at their appointed time, even if this is between 11am and midday-the hour - the planned time of the work stoppage.

The hospital also warned that its emergency department would be under increased pressure tomorrow because of the industrial action and that those presenting with minor problems can expect "long delays".

Last night the Health Service Executive (HSE) said it was willing to go back into talks with the INO and the Psychiatric Nurses' Association to try and break the current deadlock.

This followed an announcement by the nurses' unions that they would operate one-hour work stoppages between 11am and midday tomorrow at St Vincent's hospital as well as South Tipperary General Hospital, and Clonmel and South Tipperary Mental Health Services.

The action is part of the nurses' campaign for a 10.6 per cent pay rise and a 35-hour working week in place of the existing 39 hours.

The unions said that, in the absence of talks, a second series of work stoppages was planned for Friday - details of which would be announced tomorrow.

Both unions indicated their willingness to enter talks with the HSE to resolve the dispute but warned that longer work stoppages would occur without talks.