Picture: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ieThere has been calls for a speedy resolution as 37,000 nurses and midwives strike.
As 37,000 nurses and midwives strike around the country, Emergency medicine consultant Fergal Hickey is calling on both sides to resume talks and find a speedy resolution.
Speaking to RTÉ he said, “Ultimately this dispute will be resolved, it would be better for that to happen sooner rather than later.”
The prospect of multiple strike days in the coming weeks is a worrying prospect according to Dr. Hickey.
This morning there were only four patients in the emergency department at Sligo University Hospital, where he is based.
Whereas usually there would be 105-110 per day.
“We are coping at the moment. Between the snow and the strike it is taking longer for patients to get to us.”
He said it is worrying that some patients who should go to the emergency department were afraid to attend because of the strike.
Nurses strike outside Monksland Primary Care Centre in Co. Roscommon.'Can't be any changes'.
The reason behind the strike is a desire for a 12 per cent pay increase for nurses, to bring them in line with other graduate health professionals.
However Health Minister Simon Harris has again insisted there can't be any changes to current pay agreements.
One of the striking nurses Sorcha Byrne, a nurse at Connolly Hospital in Dublin, responded to the Ministers comments:
The strike continues.
