Naas Hospital nurses could soon be staging protests with discontent now throughout the entire country

The INMO is not ruling out that nurses could soon be protesting at Naas General Hospital.

Nurses and midwives protested in  Kilkenny today , to highlight unsafe staffing levels and overcrowding.

In Kilkenny, The INMO members gathered this afternoon. This summer, the hospital was forced to close a 14-bed ward due to nursing staff shortages.

In Cavan, INMO members will protest at Cavan General Hospital this Thursday at 1pm. Eight patients are on trolleys in the hospital today.

Protests began last week in Galway, Cork and Limerick after the HSE admitted having no plan for the coming winter, despite appeals from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO). Further protests will follow.

INMO general secretary Phil Ni Sheaghdha said:“Nurses and midwives are constantly apologising to patients for the conditions in the health service. Thousands are trapped on trolleys every week, and things will only get worse as winter bites."

She said:“Yet the HSE still has no plan to recruit extra staff or cut back services to cope with the demand. This could lead to unplanned cancellations of elective appointments. We can’t go on like this. It’s time for the HSE to be honest with the public.”