Nurses and midwives are to be balloted for industrial action over a number of issues, including the failure to recruit more staff.

According to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), it has made this decision following a review of the outcome of 12 regional consultation meetings it held with its members, which focused on issues of pay and working conditions.

It noted that every meeting reported ‘extreme anger from nurses and midwives on the frontline'. Multiple examples of poor working conditions were also reported, including persistent overcrowding with no additional staff, excessive unpaid working hours and repeated episodes of missed care when it came to the acute care of older people and people with disabilities.

As a result, the executive council of the INMO believes that the heath, safety and welfare of staff and patients is now being compromised on a daily basis.

It will ballot its members for a campaign of industrial action, which will begin with a work to rule, before being followed by a series of one day work stoppages.

The aim of the industrial action is to secure incentives aimed at enhancing the ability of employers to recruit and retain nursing staff, and to secure adequate staffing levels, or to curtail services to a level necessary to provide safe care in a safe working environment.

The INMO said that it is still committed to the Lansdowne Road Agreement, but it insisted that the pay restoration process must now be accelerated by Government.

"Our members have spoken and have clearly indicated they can no longer endure the working environment and will no longer accept having their professional judgement disrespected or ignored by management.

"Nursing and midwifery is in crisis and our health services are failing to meet the needs of patients. This action is absolutely necessary and justified in the interests of patients and our members. Accepted worldwide evidence demonstrates that patients are safest and mortality rates lower when there are sufficient nurses and midwives working in positive environments providing their care," commented INMO president, Martina Harkin-Kelly.

Responding to the news, the Minister for Health, Simon Harris, said he was pleased that the INMO had confirmed its commitment to the Lansdowne Road Agreement and that he looks forward to meeting with the organisation next week to discuss this and other issues.

"I am very well aware of the challenges with recruiting staff nurses and nurses with specialist skills in specific areas. We are competing with all other western countries to attract and retain nurses in specific areas. The HSE continues to implement schemes and programmes to attract nurses back to Ireland and I have made it clear that I want a major focus on driving these programmes and getting results," he commented.

The ballot will begin later this month and end on December 15, at which time the executive council will review the results. If members have voted for industrial action, the council will then decide when it is to begin.