St Luke’s Hospital faces threat of new strike action

SUPPORT staff at St Luke’s General Hospital – including porters, cleaners, healthcare professionals and security personnel – will be balloted for strike action next strike.

The move comes after the country’s largest trade union announced plans to ballot 17,000 hospital support staff in a new dispute over the implementation of pay rises.

St Luke’s is one of 36 hospitals across the country that has been included in the nationwide action announced by Siptu.

Hospital chefs are also being balloted by Siptu as part of a separate dispute over pay.

Meanwhile, latest figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) reveal 18 patients were being treated on trolleys at St Luke’s this morning.

A total of 525 patients were left waiting for a bed today at the country’s biggest 32 hospitals, according to the INMO trolley ward watch figures.