Unsafe staffing levels and overcrowding will be highlighted during a lunchtime protest by nurses in the region today.
In Kilkenny, The INMO members will gather outside St Luke's Hospital from 12:30pm.
During the summer, the hospital was forced to close the 14-bed Ward 7 due to nursing staff shortages.
However figures released this morning have shown that there are no patients waiting for a bed at the facility today.
Protests began last week in Galway, Cork and Limerick after the HSE admitted having no plan for the coming winter, despite appeals from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
INMO general secretary Phil Ni Sheaghdha said:
“Nurses and midwives are constantly apologising to patients for the conditions in the health service. Thousands are trapped on trolleys every week, and things will only get worse as winter bites.
“Yet the HSE still has no plan to recruit extra staff or cut back services to cope with the demand. This could lead to unplanned cancellations of elective appointments. We can’t go on like this. It’s time for the HSE to be honest with the public.”
