Nurses at Dublin's Beaumont Hospital are to begin industrial action next month in response to ‘unsafe conditions in the Emergency Department (ED)'.

The action by members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) is set to commence on June 10 in the form of a work to rule. This means that all essential care will continue to be provided to patients, but non-essential and administrative work will not be carried out.

If the situation does not improve, the action will be escalated to include work stoppages, the INMO said.

It noted that members had agreed to defer industrial action earlier this year after agreement was reached at the Labour Relations Commission (LRC). This agreement related to certain measures being taken to alleviate overcrowding, including increased staffing.

"However, management have failed to honour these commitments. The extra nursing staff promised have not been recruited and the department is constantly left short staffed.

"In addition, overcrowding levels remain dangerously high due to insufficient bed capacity in the hospital. Delayed discharges are at the same level as they were in December/January despite the release of additional funding to address this problem," the INMO pointed out.

It also noted that in recent weeks, 33 beds have been closed at the hospital, which has further reduced capacity.

The situation was described as a ‘disgrace' by INMO industrial relations officer, Lorraine Monaghan.

"It is a disgrace that both patients and staff are exposed to such appalling conditions in this day and age. Management have had four months to implement measures agreed at the LRC to bring about desperately needed change, however they have failed to do so and they have compounded the problem further by closing 33 beds," she commented.

She insisted that nurses will ‘no longer tolerate this situation or accept empty promises'.

"This unsafe situation has to be addressed once and for all in the interest of safe patient care and the health and safety of staff working in the department," Ms Monaghan added.

This week alone, between 22 and 30 patients have been left waiting on trolleys every day in Beaumont's ED, according to the INMO's ‘Trolley Watch' figures.