"SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS" has been reported by unions representing psychiatric nurses regarding new Labour Relations Commission proposals to resolve the dispute over the compensation scheme for staff assaulted at work.
Last night, SIPTU and the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) said the proposals included "substantial increases in the financial compensation available to nurses injured at work, and the list of injuries for which compensation could be claimed has been increased from 13 to 52".
Both unions are expected to consider the offer formally tomorrow and the overtime ban by nurses remains in place, they said.
Consideration of the LRC plan was not possible today, said both unions in a joint statement, due to a round-table conference being held in UCD on the working week for all nurses.
Siptu and the PNA represent more than 7,000 psychiatric nurses and they have argued that the levels of compensation on offer under the HSE compensation scheme are far less than those set out under the Personal Injuries Assessment Board system established by the Government.
Employers' group Ibec had accused nurses and their unions of "using the most vulnerable in our society and their families without regard to the impact of their actions on mental health service provision" and Minister for Health Mary Harney had also expressed "deep concern" at the impact of the row on the care of psychiatric patients.