The Mid-Western Health Board issued a call yesterday to relatives and friends of psychiatric patients to help feed and care for them in the Clare Mental Health Service.
The health board was responding to the escalation of their nine-day strike by 120 SIPTU members, who have withdrawn emergency cover and all non-nursing cover for patients.
The head of Clare Health Services, Mr Séamus McNulty, expressed his disappointment: "The level of emergency cover provided by the strike committee was inadequate from day one, but the latest development is an unnecessary and potentially dangerous escalation of the situation."
Following the withdrawal of non-nursing cover, the small number of health board managers were yesterday cooking and preparing meals for 240 patients at various centres throughout the county.
In an appeal to relatives and friends of psychiatric patients, Mr McNulty asked them to contact the board at 065-6823155, "to determine where they can help us, whether it be feeding their relatives or looking after them".
SIPTU branch secretary Ms Mary O'Donnell said "the withdrawal of emergency cover is not going to lead to patients being in any danger or neglected, because management are in there doing that job".
Warning that there will be further escalation of the strike in the coming days, Ms O'Donnell said: "Our members are no longer prepared to go into work on an unpaid basis while they are in dispute, because management have clearly shown no interest in resolving this dispute."
The vast majority of the 240 patients are elderly and yesterday the chairman of the Irish Patients Association, Mr Steven McMahon, claimed the patients were being used as pawns in the dispute.
He said: "Patients are being directly affected by this dispute and both sides urgently need to sit down and resolve the matter."
The dispute relates to the suspension without pay of three receptionists by the health board in a row about their working conditions at Ennis's new psychiatric unit.
