Consultants to disrupt fresh recruitment drive

HOSPITAL consultants will deliberately thwart Government plans to boost their numbers with new recruits if a proposed new working contract is forced upon them.

With just five days to go to the Government deadline for concluding contract talks, the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) has said “every aspect” of the contract on offer is “unacceptable”.

Furthermore, if the Government presses ahead with a threat to impose the new contract should the talks fail, the IHCA has advised members they “should embark on a campaign of action to thwart these appointments”.

The IHCA said this was the unanimous view of its contract consultative committee and a position it would recommend to members at an extraordinary general meeting on April 22.

The Government has set a deadline of April 17 to conclude the talks from which time Health Minister Mary Harney has said she will press ahead with plans to recruit an initial additional 350 consultants.

Last night a spokesperson for Ms Harney said the deadline remained in place.

“The Government position is clear, an extension to the talks was already facilitated (the original deadline was March 27), and the Health Service Executive (HSE) will be going ahead and placing ads for new consultants next week to fill badly-needed consultant posts in a number of specialties,” the spokesperson said.

However IHCA general secretary Finbarr Fitzpatrick said members could make recruitment of new consultants extremely difficult.

“We can do this by not sitting on interview panels when interviewing for the new posts, or by refusing to examine shortlists of candidates, traditionally done by consultants to see if qualifications are over the bar. We will also withdraw from committees involved in drawing up a variety of reports.”

Mr Fitzpatrick said they will also be advising potential applicants to defer applying for the job for up to a year to allow the IHCA time “to negotiate a better contract”. Sources said there is a concern senior doctors “who are not very competitive and under normal circumstances, would not get the job” will seize the opportunity of the new contract to gain promotion.

The IHCA said it was the unanimous view of its contract consultative committee that the proposed contract was not acceptable. Further contracts talks are expected to take place next Monday and Tuesday with little hope of meeting the deadline.

The new contract proposes pay of up to €205,000 for consultants who agree to work exclusively in the public sector. The package includes a 20% performance-related bonus; a salary of up to €185,000 for consultants who spend 20% of their time with fee-paying patients and a 39-hour working week, up from 33 hours, among other incentives. &&

The current average salary for consultants working in the public system is €186,000.