Consultants set to announce campaign of industrial action

Consultants are expected to announce a campaign of industrial action today when the results of a strike ballot are made known.

Members of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association have been voting over the past two weeks on whether to take action as part of the row over contentious new contracts.

They arranged the ballot when Minister for Health Mary Harney decided to advertise jobs for consultants on the new contracts without reaching any agreement with existing hospital doctors.

The IHCA is expected to vote overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action that will see them refusing to take part in hospital committees and not making themselves available for meetings with HSE management.

They will also refuse to do work normally carried out by locums, except in emergencies.