Consultants urge Martin to solve dispute

Hospital consultants today urged health minister Micheál Martin to solve a dispute over insurance, after they postponed strike action for four weeks.

Senior doctors have agreed to defer action which would have seen all but emergency care halted in hospitals across the country from next week, to allow further time for talks to take place.

Hundreds of patients have already had their routine surgeries cancelled this week, after their consultants withdrew from a scheme to cut waiting lists on Monday, but this action has also been suspended.

The move was part of a campaign of industrial action launched by the Irish Hospital Consultants Association in protest at a new state indemnity scheme which they claim does not cover doctors for historic claims, which have not yet been made.

The minister welcomed the deferral of the strike action and said he was confident his discussions with the doctors’ former insurers, the UK-based Medical Defence Union, could reach a satisfactory conclusion within a month.

Dr Colm Quigley, the president of the IHCA, said they had decided to defer strike action after receiving assurances from Mr Martin, although he said his members would continue to refuse to undertake administrative work until the issue was resolved.

“We have accepted the minister’s assurances in good faith that the negotiations should lead to this being completed,” he said.

“We accept that and on that basis we are stepping back from proposed action and we hope that we can then get on with improving health care in Ireland.”