IMO threaten to ballot consultants for industrial action if talks don't commence

The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has threatened to ballot consultants for industrial action next month if talks don't commence to deal with the crisis in recruitment afflicting the public health services.

The IMO said that there were more than 500 vacant consultant posts around the country, increasing waiting lists.

With the failure to recruit enough consultants to allow the Urgent Care Centre in Connolly Hospital (Phase 1 of the National Children’s Hospital) to operate as planned, the IMO believes the government, despite previous commitments, is effectively ignoring the crisis.

Consultant psychiatrist Dr Matthew Sadlier, one of those hired on reduced salaries post-2012, said the government’s "recklessly belligerent attitude" is radicalising his members "who are now considering the need to withdraw services until pay parity is restored".

Dr Sadler said the crisis in consultant recruitment which is happening now could impact on front line care in the health services for years and it simply must be fixed now.

He said that consultants were particularly upset that both Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and the Minister for Health Simon Harris have previously accepted the need to change the current discriminatory system but have failed to act.

Dr Sadler pointed out that in 2014 Mr Varadkar, who was then Minister for Health, stated that whatever deal replaced the Haddington Road Agreement should provide for equal pay for equal work.

He added that last year Mr Harris told the IMO's annual conference that the government "must and will engage to find a solution to consultant recruitment" and promised he would work with the IMO to find a process to end the issue of new entrant consultant pay.

“No engagement has taken place and, in the meantime, the HSE advertises posts but receives few if any applicants. A decade ago there would have been intense competition for such posts," Dr Sadler said.

We have a flagship project that cannot attract enough consultants to even open Phase 1 as originally planned.

"Unless we do something now the situation will deteriorate to the extent that services will be unsustainable with no hope of developing much needed new services for patients," Dr Sadler said.

Last month, the IMO highlighted that Ireland has the lowest number of consultant specialists in the EU.

The European average is 2.45 per 1,000 population, but Ireland lingers far below that with just 1.44 per 1,000.

The IMO believes the reason for this was they were emigrating for better pay and conditions.

OECD figures show that 1,179 Irish doctors are now working in Australia, a 40% increase on 2013.

There are 1,717 currently working in Canada. Meanwhile the number of doctors emigrating to work in Britain each year has increased by a third in the past six years.