Nurses are opting to walk off the job rather than continue to work on the frontline in overcrowded hospital A&E's.
That's according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation who have revealed that Cork University Hospital has been identified as the second worst hit hospital in the country for overcrowding.
Over 10,000 patients have been left waiting on trolleys or seats at the hospital so far this year, which is the highest ever figure for this point in the year.
The INMO is calling for urgent extra support for nurses in the hospital's A&E in an effort to help them cope through the current overcrowding crisis.
The union wants to see the cancellation of non-urgent elective care in public hospitals and the use of private hospitals for this work, the delivery of more beds in the system at the hospital and in teh community.
Colm Porter of the INMO in Cork told RedFM News that over stretched nurses are choosing to leave the profession rather than stay:
"There's a worldwide shortage of nurses and you know, the likes of CUH, the likes of other hospitals have to go abroad to try and recruit, but because of the pressure that's on the system and the pressure that's on them that unfortunately we are seeing people leaving, and then those who are kind of nearing retirement, this kind of tends to be the straw that broke the camel's back with with many of them and they're just taking their retirements rather than staying on."
