Work limits ‘won’t hurt patients’

NEW work time limits, to apply to junior hospital doctors from tomorrow, will not be implemented at the expense of patient care, the Department of Health stressed yesterday.

Health Minister Micheál Martin has signed into law a directive limiting the working hours of the country’s 4,000 junior doctors to an average of 58 hours a week - a 30% reduction in the hours currently worked.

There is no agreement yet, however, between the department and the Irish Medical Organisation on rosters to ensure compliance with the European Working Time Directive.

Talks at the Labour Relations Commission ended earlier this week and further talks are expected towards the middle of August.

Mr Martin also met with neurosurgeons last week to assure them that acute neurological services would not be affected by the directive.

Meanwhile, Irish Hospital Consultant's Association assistant general secretary Donal Duffy said the cap on the number of EU students trained in Ireland, in place for years, should be lifted.

“There is no doubt we need for more doctors. The whole basis of the Hanly proposals was that there would be a consultant delivered, as opposed to a consultant-led service. If we don’t train the doctors, we are not going to get the consultants,” he stressed.