Nurses in one of the country's busiest Emergency Departments (EDs) are to ballot for industrial action, due to ongoing overcrowding there.

According to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), nurses at St Vincent's University Hospital in Dublin have taken the decision as a result of ‘months of overcrowding, which is inevitably leading to increased risks to patients'.

According to the INMO's ‘Trolley Watch' figures, between January and August of this year, 3,331 patients have been left waiting on trolleys in the hospital's ED. This is an increase of 137% when compared to the same period in 2014.

The INMO also claimed that management at St Vincent's do not count trolleys in the same way as other hospitals and this leads to the level of overcrowding being underestimated each morning.

"Our members are totally frustrated at management's failure to address this problem or even acknowledge the extent of the crisis caused by this overcrowding. Patient care is being compromised on a daily basis because of this intolerable overcrowding which totally prevents our members from providing the care they believe is necessary for their patients," commented INMO industrial relations officer, Philip McAnenly.

He pointed out that this is an issue that has been raised by nurses ‘repeatedly', however they have yet to receive ‘an appropriate response'.

"This has left them with no option but to ballot for industrial action seeking immediate improvements to protect both patients and themselves," Mr McAnenly added.