Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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669. To ask the Minister for Health his views on Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation members working in emergency departments in hospitals having rejected the proposals put forward by the Workplace Relations Commission to address overcrowding, staffing and patient safety. [1279/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I am pleased that the Workplace Relations Commission was in a position to issue additional revised proposals on 11 January following intensive engagement with the INMO and HSE management. These proposals have now been accepted by the INMO National Executive and it will be recommending them for acceptance in a ballot of Emergency Department nurses.

The interests of patients are always best served through negotiation and by avoiding industrial action. I particularly welcome the fact that the proposals contain specific measures to enhance patient safety and delivery of care.

I hope that Emergency Department nurses will regard the proposals as sufficiently detailed and robust to address their concerns around activation of the escalation policy, health and safety and full implementation of the agreement itself. I expect a deeper level of trust between hospital management and nursing staff will result from the active implementation and monitoring of the proposals.