Breakthrough in health strike as proposals accepted

A BREAKTHROUGH in the two-month old public health doctors strike yesterday saw both sides in the dispute accept Labour Relations Commission (LRC) proposals for independent reviews of their grievances.

But the 300 doctors will not consider a return to work until they see the initial report of an adjudication board which expects to publish its findings in the second half of next week.

The three-man adjudication board, chaired by Gerry Durkan SC, began work straight away yesterday afternoon.

If its findings are favourable, the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) said they would suspend their action pending the results of a more detailed review which would include their long-term aim of being paid the same salary as consultants.

While the time-frame is tight, the agreements reached yesterday mean the doctors could be back on duty for the start of the Special Olympics competitions this day week.

The strike began in the middle of April following a long-running row over pay for the doctors who deal with disease surveillance, outbreak controls, vaccination schemes and health promotion.

The IMO claimed its members were owed pay increases dating back over nine years of successive national agreements. The doctors were also angry over repeated dismissals of their calls for out of hours work to be acknowledged.

They also had a longer term goal of being paid at the same level as specialists such as hospital consultants, and said this claim was never properly addressed.

Informal talks between the IMO and Health Service Employers Agency quickly broke down but formal discussions which began at the LRC a fortnight ago slowly yielded progress.

Both sides have been under pressure to find a way to resolve their differences because of the bungled response to the SARS crisis, the growing backlog of infant vaccinations and the arrival this weekend of over 7,000 athletes and their support crews for the Special Olympics.

Yesterday’s agreement sets out a format for independently assessing the issues at the heart of the dispute.

The adjudication board will look first at outstanding pay increases for the doctors and expects to report with recommendations by the end of next week.

Discussions on a structured out of hours system are to be concluded by September 30 but the question of giving the doctors consultant status will be referred to the Review Body on Higher Remuneration in the Public Sector, which is not expected to consider the issue for 12-18 months.

LRC Chief Executive Kieran Mulvey said he hoped the agreement would lead to a speedy conclusion to the dispute which he said had been long and difficult.

IMO director of industrial relations, Fintan Hourihan, welcomed the progress made yesterday but said the adjudication board’s recommendations would be crucial to an early return to work.