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.

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.