Nurses dispute heightens further
Nurses have threatened more work stoppages tommorrow and on wednesday should their demands not be met.
Doctors to reconsider their position
It is thought that the IMO will reconsider their stance on the hiring of new cunsultatns today.
Nurses dispute heightens further
Nurses have threatened more work stoppages tommorrow and on wednesday should their demands not be met.
The hospitals most effected by this will be in dublin, Roscommon, Sligo and Leitrim.
The dispute is now on its 15th day and shows no signs of progress. The government have taken a firm stance in saying that the strikers are ‘damaging the reputation of their profession’.
Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen says that the dispute is unmeerited and unwelcome and that the government have no intention of meeting their demands.
According to Professor Brendan Drumm, chair of the HSE, in order to give the nurses a 35-hour working week, 4,000 new nurses would have to be hired at a cost of €200 million.
Instead, Prof. Drumms says that the HSE would be willing to negotiate shorter hours over a longer period and in a cost-neutral way.
Lim Doran of the INO said that this was not acceptable and that the nurses will continue to strike until their demands are met.
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I hate when this kind of thing happens- stubbournness comes into play and soon no-one will be willing to talk to the other side and there will be complete mayhem in the health services. Nurses are far too important to be messed about like this and I really believe that their demands should be met. Instead of building more private facilities onto existing hospitals, the nurses should be paid. As it stands all the Irish nurses we train up to the highest standard are leaving for the US and Australia where they can get a decent wage- why spend so much money training them just to drive them out?!
Doctors to reconsider their position
It is thought that the IMO will reconsider their stance on the hiring of new cunsultatns today.
Until now the IMO have instructed all members not to co-operate witht he hiring of 50 new doctors until their contracts were agreed upon. It seems now however, that this position may soften after talks today.
Although the medics will still be in protest over the act by Minister Harney, they say that they are reluctant not to participate in the choosing of new staff as it is important that candidates be of the highest calibre.
Fintan Hourihan of the IMO said that they were still of the opinion that doctors should not assist in the interviews in any way.
The IHCA, however, seem less likely to change their minds. Speaking on Radio 1 Donal Duffy said “There’s not a hope of us signing up to a contract by Tuesday”.
