Consultants and HSE enter talks on reform plan

A stand-off between hospital consultants, the Department of Health, and the HSE over work practice reforms ended yesterday after agreement was reached to enter talks at the Labour Relations Commission.

On Wednesday, a vexed James Reilly warned that if consultants’ representatives failed to engage with the commission, he had “options” he would exercise.

Following that warning, a high-level meeting took place yesterday morning between representatives of the Irish Hospital Consultant Association (IHCA) and the secretary general of the Department of Health, Ambrose McLoughlin, and Tony O’Brien, the incoming HSE director general.