Nurses in accident and emergency departments have voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action next month.
The Irish Nurses' Organisation (INO) and SIPTU balloted their members on stoppages and a work-to-rule in protest at overcrowding and excessive workloads on nursing staff in A&Es.
Ninety-three per cent of the INO's 800 members voted in favour, as did 95 per cent of SIPTU's 200 nurses. The action will start with a two-hour work stoppage between 12 noon and 2 p.m. on Wednesday March 13th, and an ongoing work-to-rule, with a withdrawal from clerical and administrative duties and from extended role duties - for example, the taking of ECGs and administration of IV therapy. A three-hour stoppage is planned for Wednesday March 20th if the issues have not been resolved.
Yesterday, Mr Liam Doran, INO general secretary, said: "The 93 per cent response confirms and reaffirms the depth of feeling conveyed to us at meetings around the country." The result demonstrated the commitment of their members in A&E departments to improve the quality of patient care and to reduce their own intolerable workloads, he said.
They now expected employers, the CEOs of the health boards, to understand and heed the signal.
He said that the INO's 10-point plan, which had already been submitted to the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, would have to be adopted by senior managements as the basis for the improvements needed to avoid industrial action.
Mr Doran said they were having discussions with CEOs of the health boards this week. There was one meeting on Monday. They would also be meeting representatives of the Health Service Employers' Agency (HSEA).
They also expected to meet the Minister at the A&E forum at the end of next week.
"Hopefully, with all these initiatives, progress can be made," he said.
The SIPTU national nursing official, Mr Oliver McDonagh, said: "This action will escalate until such time as progress has been made."
He said they would now meet their colleagues in the National Nursing Alliance and the employers' agency to discuss emergency cover if the strike went ahead.
"We remain available at all times for talks with the HSEA in the hope of resolving the situation before March 13th," Mr McDonagh said.