Nurses working in one of the busiest hospitals in the country are to begin industrial action next month, due to ‘unsafe staffing levels' throughout its medical and surgical wards.

The nurses in Dublin's Beaumont Hospital are all members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO). Earlier this week, the INMO announced that Emergency Department nurses throughout the country will also begin industrial action next month as a result of continued overcrowding and inadequate staffing (see more here).

The industrial action In Beaumont's medical and surgical wards is set to begin on December 16 with 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.

Some 99% of members voted in favour of the action due to ‘unsafe conditions for patients and staff across all wards and units in the medical and surgical directorates'.

The INMO highlighted that there are currently 45 vacancies across these two areas and this means that members are struggling to provide even basic care. It also warned that some staff ‘are close to burnout' as a result of the heavy workloads they are faced with.

"Staffing levels have been decimated across the medical and surgical directorates and it is now impossible to provide a safe level of care to patients in these conditions. Patients on these wards should receive no less than optimum care from the time they are admitted to the time they are discharged, but sadly, this is not the reality because of inadequate staffing levels," commented INMO industrial relations officer, Lorraine Monaghan.

She added that it is now ‘imperative' that these vacancies are filled, otherwise beds will have to be closed and services curtailed ‘in the interest of safe patient care'.