Doctors say they are not ready yet to sign up to Hanly

PLANS to reduce junior doctor working hours and change the way consultants serve public hospitals have hit a major hurdle — just days after a blueprint for health service reform was published.

The Irish Medical Organisation, which represents junior or non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs), says it would not yet sign up to the Hanly Report, which had yet to be discussed by the IMO’s speciality committees.

It has also announced it would not enter into Labour Relations Commission (LRC) talks aimed at reducing NCHD working hours until controversial rosters imposed without agreement in a dozen hospitals were scrapped. It had earlier been agreed that LRC talks would begin once the Hanly report was published.