Talks begin at the Labour Relations Commission this morning between nursing unions and health service employers in an attempt to resolve the dispute by A&E nurses which today enters its third day.
The dispute has resulted in the cancellation of many planned admissions to hospitals across the State and will result in further elective procedures being deferred today.
The Irish Hospital Consultants' Association said last night its members were concerned about some of the "more urgent elective admissions" which were being cancelled. The organisation's assistant general secretary, Mr Donal Duffy, said that as the dispute rolled on, the condition of these patients would worsen.
Today's talks begin at the LRC at 10 a.m. and will be chaired by the Commission's chief executive, Mr Kieran Mulvey. However, a senior Dublin-based nurse who spoke to The Irish Times last night expressed scepticism about what the talks could achieve. She said only extra beds would solve the overcrowding in A&E, over which the nurses were protesting. "I don't think the LRC can give us beds. It's something that can only be done by the Minister for Health," she said.
Yesterday, planned admissions were deferred at the major Dublin hospitals, at University College Hospital, Galway, and at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick. Most hospitals reported their A&E units were quiet and coping and that in general, the public had heeded the advice to stay away from casualty if at all possible and attend their GP instead.
In a statement issued on behalf of Dublin hospitals, the Eastern Regional Health Authority said "a number of elective admissions" had been deferred. It could not quantify them, however. It said "a small number of in-patient and day patient admissions may have to be deferred" today.
Five elective admissions were cancelled at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick yesterday and a further six have been cancelled today. A spokeswoman for the Mid-Western Health Board said extra clerical staff had been rostered to work in its A&E units over the weekend. This is because the industrial action, in the form of a work-to-rule, has led to A&E nurses withdrawing from clerical, administrative, portering and extended role duties such as taking ECGs and blood samples. The action, which began on Wednesday after a two-hour strike, will continue until a resolution is found.
A North Eastern Health Board spokesman said surgery had been significantly reduced at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda. "Health board managers have been brought in to hospitals across the region to help out with some of the non-nursing duties such as clerical work" she said.
The Southern Health Board also said additional clerical and portering staff would be allocated to assist in A&E "wherever appropriate".
No admissions were cancelled in the midlands, south east or north west yesterday.
Representatives of nurses at all the major Dublin hospitals met for four hours to review the work-to-rule and prepare for today's talks. The Irish Nurses' Organisation general secretary, Mr Liam Doran, said he expected the talks to be "fairly protracted".
He acknowledged "hard choices" had to be made by hospital managers on deferring elective admissions during the dispute but he did not accept it was preferable to have somebody left on a trolley for days while beds to which they could be transferred were taken up by patients admitted for planned treatment that "could be left until extra beds came on stream".
Lorna Siggins in Galway writes:
Elective surgery is expected to be suspended for some days at the west's largest acute hospital, due to the industrial action.
The Western Health Board says that the suspension at University College Hospital, Galway (UCHG)would remain in place for some days, as a management measure. By cancelling routine admissions for surgery, beds have been made available for accident and emergency cases, a spokeswoman said.