Contracts ‘will put junior doctors off’

THE Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has warned that forcing new consultants into public-only contracts will deter junior hospital doctors from pursuing careers as consultants.

Junior hospital doctors believe they will be left to work all the unsociable hours, including weekend and night work, because plans for reform of the hospital system will require a 24-hour consultant presence.

Consultants holding existing contracts are only contracted to work 9am-5pm.

IMO industrial relations director Fintan Hourihane said consultants working abroad and newly trained consultants will not want to be relegated to night and weekend work, which, they claim, will limit their experience.

“This is not what they have spent years training for and it is also not the best for patient care as consultants should be open to all types of experience. Forcing a public-only contract just isn’t workable,” he said.

A Department of Health spokesman said the consultants’ claims were “ridiculous” and said a contract was being proposed “which would offer an increased salary over the existing consultant salary which was found by the OECD to be the highest in the world”.

Earlier this week, Ms Harney signalled that she intends ending the ‘category two’ consultant contract, where consultants are hired by the State to work in public hospitals but have a right to be treat patients in other hospitals. Instead, she wants private consultants to hire their own staff.