Hundreds of operations off over strike

The HSE is preparing to defer thousands of hospital appointments and hundreds of planned operations in advance of Tuesday’s day of action by non-consultant hospital doctors.

Yesterday Health Minister James Reilly pleaded with the junior doctors to go back to the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) and avert the action.

He said the HSE had developed a range of sanctions to be taken against hospital managers who failed to implement rosters.

He said the doctors should look at what was on the table and not take action that would hurt patients.

“I would hope that they [the doctors] would be able to go back to the LRC, examine what is on the table and avoid this action, which I don’t believe will do anybody any good,” he said.

However, the Irish Medical Organisation said the HSE’s sanction proposal was not presented to it at the LRC talks and had not been considered by the non-consultant hospital doctors’ committee.

The organisation’s assistant director for industrial relations, Eric Young, said the latest proposal from the HSE was unacceptable.

“It talks of ‘recording poor performance’ rather than imposing a direct financial penalty on hospitals that fail to uphold the law on working hours,” he said.

The IMO confirmed last night that it is continuing with plans for the day of action over what it says are dangerously long hours for non-consultant hospital doctors.

The HSE has pointed out that emergency services would not be affected by the day of action and that cancer and dialysis treatments would proceed as normal.