The head of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation says the health system has been ‘cut to the bone’.
More than 350 nurses and midwives are gathering in Kilkenny for day two of the three day event where staffing levels top the agenda.
Yesterday, delegates wanted to get the message across that more nurses equals safe patients.
The INMO says the Government's recruitment embargo has seen the loss of a further 850 nursing and midwifery posts in 2013.
The ratio currently stands at one midwife per fifty births, and the recommended standard internationally is one per 29.5.
General Secretary Liam Doran says patients are suffering as a result of cuts:Meanwhile, nurses say nothing has changed since the deaths of babies at Portlaoise, and the death of Savita Halappanavar in Galway.
They told their colleagues that management was failing, and a nurse at Portlaoise said his colleagues in the maternity ward had warned of problems to come:
