NURSES in Letterkenny General and Donegal Mental Health services will partake in an hour long planned work stoppage on Wednesday.

The stoppage will begin at 11am as nurses campaign for a 35-hour working week and 10.5 per cent pay increase escalates.

Emergency and acute services will still be manned by union members during the stoppage. Meanwhile talks may be resumed at the start of this week which could lead to a settlement of the dispute.

The Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) and the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) have planned one hour work stoppages in over 50 hospitals cross the country.

Contingency plans had not been put in place by the HSE following the announcement on Friday. The Nurses campaign is now in its fourth week.

In response to the announcement a HSE spokesperson said: "Following the announcement of industrial action by the INO/ PNA at Letterkenny Hospital and Mental Health Services in County Donegal on Wednesday management will meet with the INO / PNA co-ordinating committees to get details of the planned action and develop contingency plans.

'MINIMISE DISRUPTION'

"We will endeavour to minimise patient disruption and will advise the public of the contingency plans as quickly as possible."

General and psychiatric nurses in Donegal are taking part in the first one-hour stoppage protest planned on Wednesday. Stoppages will take place elsewhere on Friday.

Planned stoppages on Wednesday are also scheduled to take place in Cork, Galway, Monaghan, Kildare, Limerick Tallaght and Kilkenny.

In a joint press statement issued on Friday by INO and PNA it stated: "The planned stoppages over the two days will see thousands of nurses indicate their total involvement in the campaign and their commitment to its continuation until satisfactory progress has been made on the two key issues of the introduction of a 35 hour week and the elimination of a pay anomaly.

"The escalation will, as previously, see both unions exempt sufficient members to ensure all essential or emergency services are maintained during work stoppages. All acute critical care services will be maintained with no reduction in the level of care required for patients during the one hour stoppage,".

Union officials confirmed that the nation-wide work to rule will remain in place in all services staffed by members of both unions.