Relief as healthcare strike deferred

Patients with appointments and surgeries today will be contacted if their procedure is to go ahead after a planned strike by healthcare staff was deferred.

Talks between health service management and SIPTU are set to resume at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) this afternoon, the latest attempts to resolve a dispute over pay increases.

It means the 24 hour strike by up to 10,000 health support staff including porters, catering staff and healthcare assistants, due to take place today 20 June, will not go ahead.

However, the HSE said there may still be knock-on effects, saying in a statement that hospitals would “endeavour to reinstate services and appointments in so far as possible, and will contact patients directly to advise of any appointments and procedures that can proceed” today.

“Community services will operate a full service tomorrow,” the statement continued.

Talks between SIPTU and health service failed at the WRC on Monday. The dispute centres on what SIPTU says is a failure to implement pay increases for its members arising from an independent job evaluation.