The Workplace Relations’ Commission is due to hold a conciliation conference tomorrow on the Health Service Executive recruitment freeze.
The issue has been referred to it by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
The INMO said that the recruitment moratorium of frontline patient-facing staff cannot and should not continue and that it has not been satisfied with the HSE’s response to date.
INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said the freeze poses a very serious health and safety risk to nurses and midwives.
The union said there were 583 admitted patients waiting for a bed at hospitals around the country this morning, including 131 in University Hospital Limerick.
The HSE put the numbers at 425 nationally, with 299 in emergency departments and 126 on wards.
