Crisis warning over reduction of non-consultant doctors

A CRISIS is looming in the Irish health system due to an impending reduction of non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs).

The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) says this summer will see a “new and unnecessary crisis” in hospitals throughout the country.

In anaesthesia and emergency medicine the crisis will be most acutely felt, said IHCA assistant general secretary Donal Duffy. However, all areas of hospital medicine were likely to be affected, he predicted.

“The HSE has designated 3,600 NCHD posts as recognised training posts from July 1. That will mean a reduction of 900 in such posts from that date,” he said explaining the root of the crisis.

“This comes on top of Ireland’s full implementation of the EU Working Time Directive, which restricts the number of hours these doctors may work down to 48 hours per week, where it had been about 20% more,” he said.

Doctors from non-EC countries, wishing to train in hospitals, were faced with very difficult visa regulations and costs which are more restrictive than in other competing EU countries.

These factors coupled with the HSE decision to reduce available posts were a recipe for disaster, Mr Duffy said.

“The new contract for NCHDs significantly reduces their earning capacity. Ireland used to be a very attractive location in which doctors could train. This is no longer so,” he said.

“So, with an increase in the number of patients needing care, the HSE is imposing a severe decrease in the numbers of doctors providing that service.

“This will have profound consequences for the health service immediately and into the future. The HSE has not indicated what will be saved by this drastic measure or how funds might be redirected,” Mr Duffy said.

Increasingly from this summer, patients and their families will see dramatic reductions in service. “The most notable impact will be in anaesthesia, with knock-on consequences for surgery and obstetrics, and emergency medicine, disciplines in which it has already been very difficult to recruit.”

The IHCA has sought a meeting with the HSE to discuss the threatened crisis.