Nurses at Galway University Hospital have voted in favour of industrial action in an attempt to highlight the issue of overcrowding in the hospital's Emergency Department (ED).

The nurses, all members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), will begin their action in the form of a work to rule on February 3. Every single member who was balloted voted in favour of the action.

According to the INMO, management at the hospital will now be served with three weeks official notice. As part of the work to rule, nurses will not perform any non-clinical, clerical or administrative tasks. They will ‘only engage in their professional duties involving the provision of clinical care to patients within the ED'.

The vote follows record-breaking waiting figures in EDs around the country. Last week, the number of patients waiting on trolleys broke the 600 barrier for the first time.

The INMO said that the action in Galway is being taken because the problems in the hospital's ED are worsening. As a result, patients are being deprived of ‘timely care with dignity'.

According to INMO member and clinical nurse manager in the ED, Anne Burke, conditions in the department have reached ‘an intolerable and grossly unsafe state'.

"It is no longer possible to provide professional and high standards of care to vulnerable patients in such unsafe, understaffed and immoral conditions," she insisted.

Meanwhile, the organisation also noted that despite these ongoing problems, management is still planning to temporarily close 19 acute beds ‘to facilitate a building project'.

"The level of overcrowding and staff shortages is impinging on nurses' ability to provide safe, quality care. The idea of closing beds in such circumstances is simply incredible and alarming. Major change is required to turn this degrading situation around," commented INMO industrial relations officer, Clare Treacy.