‘We want proper pay and training’

DOCTOR John Kelleher took home 3,000 euro last month.

Not bad for a months's work, but Dr Kelleher's month is more like your average worker's six weeks.

Dr Kelleher, a paediatric registrar at Waterford Regional Hospital, works an average of 65 hours a week and is on call throughout the night one night out of five and one weekend in four or five.

"Working long hours isn't the problem that is part of the job and we expect it. But we do want to get paid properly for the hours we do and we want to have the opportunity to get proper training.

"People think we are looking for more money, but we just want to make sure that we are being paid properly for the hours we do and given full training opportunities," he said.

Rostering and training is at the centre of the current dispute, which will see 120 NCHD's take industrial action in Waterford tomorrow.

Management at Waterford have begun rostering junior doctors for a half-day off every week. But the afternoon's work is being deducted from the doctors' overtime payments instead of simply not being paid, according to Dr Kelleher.

Junior doctors receive on-going training during their working hours, but as they are being sent home one afternoon each week, they are missing valuable training time by their consultants' side, he said.

"If doctors are being sent home every afternoon then we need to make sure someone is there to help them and train them when they are working.

"If we are introducing shift-work in the Irish medical system, then it has to be introduced at a national level, whereas now it is being decided at a Waterford level," he said.