{"id":297222,"date":"2026-02-14T05:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T05:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/297222\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T05:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T05:30:08","slug":"industrial-action-at-naas-hospital-suspended-after-lengthy-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/297222\/","title":{"rendered":"Industrial action at Naas Hospital suspended after ‘lengthy talks’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has suspended its industrial action in Naas General Hospital.<\/p>\n

It follows lengthy talks with management, which intensified on Friday evening.<\/p>\n

It has suspended the work-to-rule since 8pm on Friday.<\/p>\n

The INMO has secured the immediate backfilling of 60 vacant nursing posts and has also secured an additional thirty new posts to cover additional services.<\/p>\n

In a statement released this evening, an INMO spokesperson said:\u00a0 \u201cThe union has also secured an additional thirty new posts to cover additional services.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA full review of all nurse staffing will begin at the hospital this week, against the safe staffing framework.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe nurses in Naas General Hospital appreciate the immense amount of support they received from the public in Naas and the wider Kildare area this week, particularly during lunchtime protests.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Dispute Committee at Naas General Hospital have recommended that members be balloted on proposals next week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the industrial action, they said there had been a failure to fill maternity-leave vacancies and to increase staffing to meet an over 25 per cent increase in Emergency Department attendance at the hospital in the past three years.<\/p>\n

At the protest, INMO general secretary Phil Ni Sheaghdha explained that the \u201cvery busy\u201d hospital had seen a \u201cmassive increase\u201d in emergency department attendances.<\/p>\n

The area, which is seeing population growth generally, also contains nursing homes that are increasingly dealing with people from Dublin who rely on Naas General Hospital when they become unwell.<\/p>\n

She told the Press Association: \u201cAll in all, the staffing has kept pace with the population and the demand on services in the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Ni Sheaghdha said the issue has been going on for years, leading to patients being cared for in inappropriate areas.<\/p>\n

The INMO says highly skilled theatre nurses are owed hundreds of hours of back pay.<\/p>\n

\u201cNurses do not feel the care they can deliver can be delivered safely \u2013 and that\u2019s a real risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Ni Sheaghdha said the INMO wanted the HSE to deal with the issue, adding: \u201cWe want the employer to make real proposals that we can put to members that we can say there is a likelihood that this will resolve this dispute.<\/p>\n

Zoe Cleary, who works as a clinical facilitator in the emergency department, said the issues at the unit involve uncovered maternity leave and leaving staff not being replaced.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur staff are on their hands and knees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re expected to do workloads of multiple additional people<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s huge burnout, there\u2019s huge stress, and there\u2019s a huge problem with retaining staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ruth O\u2019Connor, a staff nurse in theatre and endoscopy, said members had become \u201cquite cynical\u201d about the approach taken by the HSE after highlighting issues for a \u201clong, long time\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of us wants to be out here.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to be in there looking out for our patients, but the standard of care is being eroded through no fault of our own.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms O\u2019Connor said local people were \u201canxious\u201d coming into the emergency department because they know \u201cthe level of service is so compromised\u201d by staffing issues.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Nearly<\/p>\n

Ireland<\/p>\n

Nearly 40 asylum seekers arrested and families separated after routine check in<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cNot only are we being stretched very thin, but we\u2019re being asked to extend our services with the staff we have \u2013 which is preposterous.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cThis is not about pay \u2013 it is purely about safety and dignity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not able to provide patients the dignity that patients deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has suspended its industrial action in Naas General Hospital. It follows…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-297222","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}