CUH orders halt to overtime pay for doctors

JUNIOR doctors at the country’s largest hospital are the latest casualties of frenetic efforts by the HSE to generate €300 million in savings at a time when health chiefs have warned they could run out of cash.

A circular sent to consultants at Cork University Hospital (CUH), seen by the Irish Examiner, has ordered an immediate halt to the payment of unrostered overtime to non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs).

These are hours NCHDs work outside of their on-call commitments, such as early morning ward rounds, or, “in exceptional circumstances”, such as working extra hours to help out with a medical emergency.