Hospital consultants threaten to withdraw from contract talks

HOSPITAL consultants yesterday threatened to withdraw from talks on their new contract on February 1 unless Health Minister Micheal Martin changes policy on the new insurance scheme to be introduced on that date.

Under the new Enterprise Liability Scheme, the State will take over responsibility for insuring hospital consultants from two British firms, the Medical Defence Union (MDU) and the Medical Protection Society (MPS).

The MDU has threatened not to honour a malpractice award against an Irish consultant in the future, if it feels the premiums paid by the doctor do not cover the award. Mr Martin has threatened to challenge any move by them not to pay a malpractice award in British courts, because he said the historic liabilities for Irish consultants could run to €800 million