Hospital consultants split over strike action
The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) which has 1,750 members decided on Saturday to defer industrial action after the Government said it would back consultants’ legal action against the British-based insurance firm, the Medical Defence Union (MDU).
But the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO), which has 680 consultant members, is unhappy with the Government’s guarantee and is going ahead with strike action from Monday, March 14.
Both the IHCA and the IMO have been up in arms ever since the MDU began to withdraw cover from consultants from whom it had received annual subscriptions when the Government introduced its own insurance scheme, the Clinical Indemnity Scheme (CIS) just over a year ago.
The MDU argued it was no longer in a position to cover claims arising from past medical negligence claims because its subscriptions had fallen off since the introduction of the CIS.
The insurance body has refused malpractice insurance cover to 26 consultants for past claims.
The IHCA has initiated legal action against the MDU over an obstetrician who has been refused cover. Last Thursday the Department of Health wrote to the IHCA confirming it was the intention of the Cabinet that consultants would be covered in the same way as if they had been assisted and indemnified by the MDU.
The department confirmed its support for consultants taking appropriate legal challenges to the MDU decision to withdraw assistance in the defence of personal injury claims.
IHCA president Dr Josh Keaveny said the department had given the assurances patients, their families and doctors needed.
IMO industrial relations director Fintan Hourihan said they were still no better off than 13 months ago.
