Patients waiting on surgery amid strike

Patients due to undergo a procedure tomorrow will have to wait to hear from their local hospital to find out if their surgery can go ahead as up to 10,000 health support workers prepare to strike.

The HSE said patients will be contacted “by their local hospital or healthcare facility in the event that a scheduled procedure or service will be affected by the dispute”.

The workers due to strike include health care and maternity care assistants, laboratory aides, surgical instrument technicians, chefs, and portering, catering, and household services.

While the HSE said yesterday it was beginning contingency planning with Siptu, the union representing the workers, it remained unclear who would carry out duties such as transferring patients to theatre, cooking meals, delivering meals on wards, and sterilising instruments for use in theatre, as the staff who perform these tasks are involved in the dispute.

Up to 38 hospitals will be affected by the 24-hour work stoppage, the result of a dispute arising from failure to implement pay increases recommended in a job evaluation scheme (JES).

Siptu says the Government agreed to the JES when the workers signed up to the Lansdowne Road Agreement in 2015. The review found their duties extended beyond their original job descriptions. Siptu says the workers are owed €1,600-€3,200. The overall cost is circa €20m.

Paul Bell, Siptu health division organiser, said the Department of Health and HSE accepted the JES recommendations but the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform had indicated that no pay increases would be forthcoming before 2021.

The HSE said it “remains committed to early resolution of the strike action”.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he believes a resolution could be found if the dispute was referred to the Labour Court.

Fianna Fáil leader Mícheál Martin said the matter should be referred without conditions.

“Then perhaps there may be an opportunity to prevent chaos on Thursday,” he said.

Labour leader Brendan Howlin said the Government needs to honour its previous commitments on pay.

Health Minister Simon Harris called on the HSE and Siptu to “double their efforts” to resolve the row.

A spokesperson for Finance and Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe said there are well-established procedures under the Public Service Stability Agreement to use the State’s industrial relations machinery state.

Talks at the Workplace Relations Commission ended without agreement on Monday night.

In addition to tomorrow, five further strike days are planned: June 25 and 26, and July 2, 3, and 4.