CUH surgeries cancelled next Friday as doctors strike

Patients scheduled to undergo surgery at Cork University Hospital (CUH) on December 19 face having operations cancelled following a ballot for strike action by junior doctors in the department of anaesthetics.

The vote, overwhelmingly in favour of strike, is on foot of the hospital’s unilateral decision to reduce, from last July, the pay of non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs) training in anaesthesia , according to the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO).

The reduction was implemented on foot of a circular issued by the HSE instructing hospitals to implement new salary scales for what are known as Streamlined Specialised Training programmes, which are essentially fast-tracked training programmes. In the case of trainee anaesthetists, it meant training was reduced for seven to six years.