‘Interference by Harney to blame for contract row’
The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) said the continued interference by the minister over the past 16 months, during which she threatened to guillotine the negotiations, set unrealistic completion deadlines. Pressing ahead with the recruitment of up to 50 new consultants had also undermined the entire process, it said.
The association said yesterday it would be urging its members not to assist in the recruitment of the new consultants.
IHCA general secretary Finbarr Fitzpatrick said members of the national council would meet on Sunday to plan how they would show both the minister and the Health Service Executive (HSE) that they were not going to be treated with contempt.
It is understood that consultants will consider withdrawing their co-operation on a range of administrative and managerial duties. The IHCA has insisted, however, that any action will not directly affect patient services.
The association, which represents around 1,800 consultants, withdrew from the contract talks on Monday over the decision by Ms Harney to try to recruit new consultants under an imposed and incomplete contract.
The association also described the salary and contract on offer as ‘mickey mouse’ and said that pay for a longer working week of 39 hours represented a pay cut.
Mr Fitzpatrick said they would go back to the negotiation table if Ms Harney decided not to go ahead and advertise the consultant positions or employed them under the current contract.
It is understood that independent talks’ chairman Mark Connaughton has told the minister he now believes he might have little more to contribute to the process.
IHCA president and Kerry General Hospital obstetrician Dr Mary Caffrey, said many of the positions being advertised had not been properly resourced.
“I think potential candidates need to take the long view and try and work out how frustrated they would be in a job that had no resources,” she said.
Dr McCaffrey also insisted that the dispute was not just about money; it was also about the retention of their right to advocate publicly on behalf of patients. The organisation would refuse to sign any pay agreement if that right was removed.
Chief executive of the Health Service Executive Employers Agency (HSEEA) Gerard Barry, said if advocacy by consultants was the only obstacle for the IHCA, a mechanism would be found to deal with it.
“The HSE believes that negotiations should continue in parallel with the current recruitment campaign and that any final agreement could inform the contracts to be offered to newly recruited consultants. The IHCA’s concerns about advocacy could be accommodated through such negotiations.”
The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO), representing around 600 consultants, has no plans to withdraw from the talks but would be advising its members not to apply for the 50 new consultant posts being advertised later this week on the basis of terms that have not been agreed.
Both the IHCA and the IMO have written to bodies representing doctors in Europe, America, New Zealand, Australia and Canada informing them of their concerns.
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