Negotiations between nurses and the Children’s Memorial Health Institute in Warsaw authorities were expected to begin at noon. Talks on Saturday lasted nearly 10 hours.

The health ministry said in a statement on Saturday that patients should not be allowed to suffer as a result of the nurses’ protest.

The nurses are demanding a pay hike of PLN 400 (EUR 90) a month that they were promised earlier this year and want 70 more staff to be hired at the hospital.