The industrial action by nurses in all public hospitals will be extended to private hospitals "within days" unless they too agree to improve nurses' pay and conditions, it was confirmed yesterday.
Liam Doran, general secretary of the Irish Nurses' Organisation (INO), said a claim for a 10.6 per cent pay rise and a 35-hour working week had also been served on the State's private hospitals and the union was awaiting a response from them.
"A failure by them to concede those claims will see them involved in the campaign in the short term and we are talking about in days," he said.
The news came as the Health Service Executive (HSE), among others, claimed the ongoing work-to-rule by 40,000 nurses who are members of the INO and the Psychiatric Nurses' Association (PNA) is beginning to affect patient services.
John McCormack, chief executive of the Irish Cancer Society, said the dispute was jeopardising the care of cancer patients. He called for cancer services to be exempted from the dispute.