Doctors in no-show at A&E departments over pay cap

A number of doctors failed to present for work at emergency departments (EDs) yesterday in protest at a HSE directive intended to cap the pay of locums.

Doctors in no-show at A&E departments over pay cap

The no-shows come at a time of record overcrowding, with 7,781 patients on trolleys or on wards last month awaiting admission, up 27% on the same month last year.

Fergal Hickey, spokesman for the Irish Association of Emergency Medicine, said it was their understanding that Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, the Midlands Regional Hospital in Portlaoise, and Letterkenny General Hospital were among those where doctors chose not to attend for their shifts.

He said this was as a result of a HSE directive which took effect on September 1 and which had resulted in significant pay cuts for the affected doctors.

“It’s mainly the registrar grade and senior house officers, but they make up the majority of the medical workforce in EDs,” he said.

Mr Hickey, an emergency medicine consultant in Sligo, said there were a couple of issues, including a new HSE framework for hiring locums.

He said hospitals used to phone around looking for doctors who had previous experience in their hospital when looking to plug a gap at short notice.

Now, however, the hospital has to go through a HSE agency framework, “in a predetermined order”, and some of the agencies are difficult to contact out of hours.

Mr Hickey said he understands why the HSE wants to reduce its locum pay bill, but that they “needed to think about what might happen if they pulled the plug”.

He said the HSE has “no contingency plan” and that it is likely locums would continue not to present for shifts going forward.

Last month, the HSE said the agency rates were “considerably higher than the rates being paid to direct medical employees” and that the new rates “represent a narrowing of this salary differential and were arrived at following detailed consideration”.

Under the rates, junior doctors, or SHOs, can expect €272 for an eight-hour shift between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Saturday, a 15% drop from the old rate.

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