The Labour Court is to issue settlement proposals to the nurses strike by midday tomorrow. The chairman of the court, Mr Finbarr Flood, gave his commitment to a final hearing into the dispute shortly before 10 p.m. yesterday, which was attended by leaders of the Nursing Alliance and the Health Employer Services Agency.
The chairman of the alliance, Mr Liam Doran, said on behalf of the four unions that they would meet at midday tomorrow to consider the court's proposals.
Meanwhile, the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) is concerned about the increasing strain being placed on accident and emergency (A&E) departments at many hospitals. Its members have reported a rise in these admissions.
The treatment of cancer patients has created further tension between hospital management and nurses, with the chief executive of St Luke's cancer hospital in Rathgar, Dublin, appealing to the Irish Nurses Organisation to exclude it from the strike.
Mr Nicholas C. Jermyn said cancer patients required treatment urgently, including chemotherapy, which was dependent on sufficient nursing staff being available.
The eight hours of talks at the Labour Court yesterday covered a wide range of issues, but the core items were allowances and the introduction of a new senior staff nurse grade. The proposal for this grade emerged from the 38 hours of "process" talks at the weekend under the chairmanship of Mr Kevin Duffy, the deputy chairman of the Labour Court.
As this grading proposal is new, the Labour Court has considerable freedom in considering its implications. Management and unions are agreed in principle on the need for the new grade, which will recruit from long-service staff nurses and will be between the top of the staff nurse and the ward sister grades.
The court will have to decide criteria for the new grade, job descriptions and, above all, how many nurses will be appointed and at what rates. As staff nurses form 80 per cent of the 28,000 on strike, a significant number of appointments must be made. There was speculation last night that the figure could be as high as 2,500 or 3,000. A further 1,000 promotional outlets for clinical nurse specialists and clinical nurse practitioners are also planned.
This would bring the total to well over 3,000, which is close to the alliance target.
It would also almost double the promotional opportunities for hospital staff nurses. At present the main outlets are at ward sister level or in the public health nurse sector.
The other area where most progress was made is allowances. Although the new location and qualification allowances introduced earlier this year were intended to apply to at least half of the State's 28,000 nurses, in many hospitals the number of recipients is nearer to a third.
The number of recipients of allowances is expected to rise significantly, and it will probably extend to psychiatric and public health nurses.
As in February 1997, when a national nurses strike was narrowly averted after Labour Court intervention, senior officials from the Department of Finance attended the talks with the HSEA delegation. It is expected that the Government will honour any proposals emerging from the court's deliberations, and the intensive negotiations under Mr Duffy.
Entering the talks yesterday afternoon, Mr Doran said "process talks under Mr Duffy had provided "a template" on which to build. The chief executive of the HSEA, Mr Gerard Barry, said he was hopeful "the end is in sight".