Members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation at the University Maternity Hospital Limerick are to meet to consider a ballot for industrial action.

The proposed action centres around an agreement brokered at the Workplace Relations Commission in November of last year aimed at addressing staffing levels.

NMO Industrial Relations Officer Mary Fogarty said high elective induction activity “is placing unbearable pressure on the service”.

“It is the firmly held view of midwives that the HSE has only paid lip service to the WRC implementation process since last November, it has reneged on a review of a need for additional porters and failed to date to allocate additional clerical staff and health care assistants.

“In tandem the hospital has high elective induction activity (39% in January 2016) placing unbearable pressures on the service that still has significant midwife staffing deficits.

“Our members have nothing personally to gain by speaking out except securing a safe, quality and appropriately staffed maternity service for mothers and babies. It is of significant concern to frontline midwives that the ongoing clinical risks at the hospital due to a shortage of staff and high elective induction rates are left unaddressed.

“Midwives are disillusioned with the HSE and its failure to listen and act in a timely fashion and put in place robust governance and safe staffing arrangements.”