Row looms over claims doctors not getting fair pay
The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has launched an investigation into claims that some hospitals are not sticking to newly agreed rosters.
According to an IMO spokesman, the organisation is currently reviewing payments made to non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs) who have been on call. He said it appeared some hospitals were sending NCHDs home early after they had been on call in an effort to avoid paying them their full daily entitlement.
The spokesman said the practice in some hospitals was to send doctors home at lunchtime the day after being on call, instead of paying them for the period up to 5pm.
The IMO is currently completing its survey of hospitals to get a more complete picture of whether rostering arrangements were changed without consultation.
The controversial rostering issue centres on differing interpretations by the IMO and management on when overtime payments should be made.
The situation is likely to become more acute next year when hospitals are forced to implement a new EU law cutting hours worked by junior doctors. This could cause a staff crisis, particularly in smaller hospitals, unless a vigorous recruitment drive is undertaken by the Department of Health.
Dr Colman O’Leary, an accident and emergency consultant at Limerick Regional Hospital, said the EU directive would have a “lethal” effect on small hospitals, which depend on junior doctors to provide a 24-hour service.
The State will be liable to fines of €10,000 a day for each day the directive is breached.
