The health service may be facing a winter of severe discontent after nurses voted overwhelmingly to back a campaign of action, which may, if necessary, include a series of one-day strikes.

Following a nationwide ballot, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has said that 90% of its members have voted for a campaign of action to address severe staffing issues within the health service.

The organisation noted that members are greatly concerned about staff recruitment and retention issues and the impact this is having on patient care. It said that official figures show that nurse/midwife staffing levels are still 3,500 less than the figure employed in 2008, despite the health service facing more complex demands now.

The executive council of the INMO has met and agreed to write to the Minister for Health, Simon Harris, and the director general of the HSE, Tony O'Brien, calling for ‘immediate round table talks, with an independent chair if necessary'. The purpose of this would be to agree special measures to address the staffing crisis.

The council is also instructing all branches of the INMO to establish campaign committees in all workplaces, in order to draw up contingency plans should industrial action begin.

The agreed mandate for action provides for a series of one-day strikes and a continuous work to rule. This would include a number of factors, such as a ban on overtime and no redeployment from one ward to another.

The executive council has agreed to hold a special meeting on January 17 to review management's response to this campaign, and to finalise the timetable for action should it be necessary.

"This organisation's members have spoken loudly and clearly and have given us a strong mandate for a campaign of action. They have suffered eight years of staff shortages, excessive workloads and having their voice, and professional judgement, ignored by the system, which is fixated on budgets and targets and certainly not on patients and quality of care," commented INMO president, Martina Harkin-Kelly.

Responding to the news, Minister Harris described it as ‘regrettable'.

"While I understand that our health service faces serious challenges on recruitment and retention, industrial action is not the solution. It will not reduce the numbers of patients on trolleys in Emergency Departments (EDs), will not reduce the waiting lists or improve service delivery and could lead to the cancellation of elective surgeries," he commented.

He added that his department and HSE management have had ‘continuing engagement' at the Workplace Relations Commission on matters relating to EDs over the last year, and ‘management continues to be available to meet the INMO on an ongoing basis'.