Staff at a private nursing home in Co Meath voted unanimously in favour of industrial action yesterday.
The staff of the Hillview nursing home near Tara voted to strike because of what their unions claim is management's refusal to discuss their future with them after the home was refused registration this month by the Health Service Executive (HSE) Northeast Region.
Siptu and the Irish Nurses' Organisation (INO) said workers in the home were worried about their jobs, and management had refused to discuss whether it was appealing the HSE's decision. If it does not appeal the decision, the home could close.
A representative of the owner, when contacted last evening, referred queries to the offices of a Dublin solicitor. A call to the firm was not returned.
The HSE, in a statement, said its decision to refuse the home registration was based on "the proprietors' failure to appoint an appropriate person in charge as required by legislation".
The proprietors have 21 days to appeal the refusal to the District Court. The 21 days expire tomorrow.
In the meantime the HSE has appointed a person to take over the management of the nursing home on a temporary basis.
In a separate development, the HSE Northern Area said yesterday that during inspections of the 30 private nursing homes in its region during the first six months of this year it found seven homes which did not meet all its requirements. It had advised these homes not to accept patients who were being rehoused from the Leas Cross nursing home in north Dublin.
The HSE Northern Area spokesman said the seven homes had been ordered to carry out improvements. Issues of concern to the inspectors included staffing levels and infrastructural problems.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that nurse staffing levels in some units for the elderly run by the HSE are worse than those which pertained in the much-criticised Leas Cross private nursing home.
The HSE Northern Area confirmed when it began to seek alternative accommodation for public patients in Leas Cross last week that nurse staffing levels at the home were "not up to scratch".
A HSE spokesman said the home, with 111 beds, had 10 nurses and 48 care attendants, and there were just three staff nurses on duty each night from 8pm to 8am. Six care attendants were rostered to work the same night shift.With 92 of the beds occupied there was one nurse on duty for every 30 patients on night shifts at Leas Cross.
However, at a HSE-run home for the elderly in Co Leitrim, there is just one nurse on duty, with two care attendants from 5.30pm to 8.30am to look after 40 patients.
Tony Fitzpatrick, industrial relations officer with the INO, said in another public facility for the elderly in Trim, Co Meath, there was also just one nurse on night duty with one care attendant looking after 35 patients.
"The nurse staffing ratios in several public nursing units for the elderly are as bad if not worse, especially at night time, than in the private facilities."
INO deputy general secretary Dave Hughes said a report commissioned by the Department of Health and published in 1998 recommended an urgent review of conditions and staffing levels in care of the elderly services but this never happened.
Minister for Health Mary Harney said last week the National Hospitals Office had begun the process of reviewing all services at each hospital to ensure that they are staffed appropriately to deliver safe and good-quality care.