UNIONS REPRESENTING psychiatric nurses have said that they will escalate their industrial action from next week if no progress is made in resolving their dispute with health service management on a new compensation scheme for staff injured as a result of assaults at work.
The Psychiatric Nurses' Association (PNA) and Siptu said yesterday that from Monday they would withdraw co-operation with management moves to redeploy staff from community-based services to provide cover in psychiatric units and general hospitals which have been under pressure as a result of existing industrial action.
Informed sources said there were indications that the Labour Relations Commission or Labour Court may intervene in the row later this week.
Services in some psychiatric units and hospitals have been affected as a result of an overtime ban put in place by the unions last week as part of their campaign for a new compensation scheme.
Minister for Health Mary Harney last night said she very much regretted the decision of the unions to escalate the action. She said it was inevitable that patients would suffer.
She said one of the issues which had clearly arisen from the dispute was that there was a very heavy reliance on overtime.
She said she had spoken to Health Service Executive (HSE) chief Prof Brendan Drumm about this issue.
"It is clear to me that there is an overdependence on overtime in the psychiatric mental health area and that needs to be addressed by the HSE as a matter of urgency," she said.
Ms Harney said there was a meeting planned for today between the HSE and the unions representing psychiatric nurses and she hoped that an escalation of the industrial action would not happen.
However, the HSE invitation said that the meeting was to discuss contingency arrangements and the PNA said that, although the unions would attend, it was not a forum for negotiations.
PNA general secretary Des Kavanagh said the impact of the withdrawal of co-operation from redeployment of staff from community services to hospitals would be "huge".
The unions said that all the major acute hospitals in Dublin, except Beaumont, would be affected. "We have noted the request by advocacy groups to take a step back in the interests of patients and, as a gesture of goodwill, we are giving a week's notice of our action. This creates an opportunity for resolution of the dispute if the HSE wishes to avail of it," Mr Kavanagh stated.
Siptu nursing official Louise O'Reilly said the joint strike committee had reviewed progress so far and it was satisfied that the dispute was having a serious impact on management.
The introduction of the overtime ban last week has already led to the closure of psychiatric beds at St Vincent's, Tallaght and Naas hospitals. Community hostels in west Cork and Dublin have also been affected as staff have been moved back to the hospital sector.
Mr Kavanagh said that as of yesterday afternoon there were no staff to work in the female psychiatric unit at Tallaght and he forecast that there would be further difficulties in Naas today.
Ms Harney said that when the Government had asked the State Claims Agency to reflect on a compensation scheme for psychiatric nurses it had been decided to ask the market to come up with an insurance-based scheme.