Talks have resumed today between nursing unions and health service management in an effort to break the deadlock over demands on pay and reduced working hours.
Talks aimed at resolving the dispute, which is now in its fifth week, broke up on Sunday night. The talks at Government Buildings in Dublin are said to be deadlocked over the two key demands.
In a joint statement issued ahead of today's talks, the Irish Nurses' Organisation and the Psychiatric Nurses' Association accused the Health Service Executive (HSE) of taking minimal interest in its proposals to solve the ongoing dispute.
Included in the nursing unions reform package are commitments to reducing waiting times in A&E wards, speeding up consultant referrals and improving response times. The plans also includes changes to admissions and discharge and the introduction of cost cutting measures.
"The reform package presented by the INO and PNA, is undoubtedly the best opportunity the HSE has ever been given to move swiftly forward on its own transformation agenda," said Liam Doran, INO general secretary this morning.
"Our approach to these negotiations has been to present a modernisation and change programme far greater than has been offered by any other group to date. Regrettably, so far the HSE's, and the Department's, response has been very disappointing, very narrow in focus and far removed from the rhetoric of improving the patients/clients experience of the public health service".
The nursing unions have said that they will meet later this week to consider the introduction of daily work stoppages if there is no breakthrough today.
The Labour Court last year rejected claims put forward by the two organisations and said that some of these could be addressed through the public service benchmarking process.
However, the unions have maintained that the first benchmarking report did not deal with their claims and that they have no confidence in the second process, due to be completed next year.
