Junior doctors seek pay rise in place of overtime

JUNIOR doctors are seeking an overall pay increase of 20%, claiming their earnings will drop by up to one-third when European Union legislation banning their long working hours is fully introduced and their traditional overtime earnings cut.

Under the EU’s Working Time Directive (EWTD), non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs) will have to cut their working week from an average of 77 hours to 58 hours.

The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has long been campaigning for a cut to NCHD hours, claiming they are “illegal” and “dangerous”. Some doctors, it was claimed, had until recently been working up to 100 hours weekly.

The Labour Party said it was “a little bit surprised” by the move as the IMO had long campaigned for the new work directive to be introduced because of the effects of long working hours on patients and staff.

The introduction of the EWTD is nearly two years overdue because the Department of Health and the Health Services Executive were creating structures to ensure hospitals could reduce their reliance on junior doctor staff.

Now, in a recent submission to the Public Service Benchmarking Body, the IMO is arguing that the working time directive will mean NCHDs, working as senior house officers (SHOs) and specialist registrars (SpRs), could stand to lose up to €47,000 because of the lack of overtime.

IMO director of industrial relations Fintan Hourihan argued that non-consultants’ basic salary was always low as there was an expectation that they would “make up their salary” through overtime.

“If we want to attract and recruit the best calibre hospital staff, we must be prepared to pay them properly. The basic NCHD salary has always been suppressed because of the expectation of overtime pay.”

The union is also seeking a 20% pay increase in the NCHD ‘living out allowance’ which compensates them from having to move around the country regularly on short-term contracts.

In addition, it also wants the salary scale extended so that senior non-consultant hospital doctors, who are working in a post for four or five years, will not hit a ‘cul de sac’ if they haven’t moved to a consultant post.

NCHD numbers have been increased by about 30% in the past four to five years so that overtime bills could be cut and there would be sufficient staff at night and at weekends in the country’s hospitals.

Many of these doctors have come from abroad and the IMO estimates that half are not in training courses as they can’t access teaching.

A spokesperson for the HSE was unavailable for comment yesterday.

Labour Party spokeswoman on health Liz McManus has said she is “a little bit surprised” at such a substantial pay claim as she said the IMO fought for the EWTD to be introduced.

“It was always clear that overtime would be effected and pay would drop. Also, the EWTD has been watered down a lot here and there are still a good number of doctors doing overtime.”