Minister 'committed' to consultancy status for public health specialists

Health minister Stephen Donnelly has insisted he is 'committed' to making sure specialists in public health medicine be granted consultancy status. Picture: Stephen Collins

Health minister Stephen Donnelly has insisted he is “committed” to making sure specialists in public health medicine be granted consultancy status.

His statement comes as the Irish Medical Organisation has said it is now planning for strike action.

The IMO announced last night that all 6,000 of its members have voted to support a move by public health doctors to ballot on industrial action.

The proposed ballot, which will include the option to strike, will happen if the long-promised grade of a consultant is not awarded to 60 public health specialists.

Public health doctors have previously warned they will ballot members on the issue if no progress is made by November 30.

'Frustration and anger'

They are furious that “preliminary” talks with the HSE and Department of Health today failed to resolve issues around the contracts.

The meeting prompted the chair of Irish Medical Organisation's public health committee Dr Ina Kelly to say the meeting “made a bad situation worse”.

“We went hoping to make progress, but we have come away more frustrated and angry,” she said.

In response to Dr Kelly’s comments last night, a spokesperson for Mr Donnelly said: “The minister is committed to the establishment of a consultant-led public health model.

“The department and the HSE are finalising a proposal on consultants' posts, which they will submit to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in mid-November.”

Dr Kelly said: “No doctor wants to take industrial action, but such is the disappointment, frustration, and low morale of our members in the face of Government disrespect, we expect to receive an overwhelming mandate.

“The public health committee will be holding a series of meetings in the coming weeks to plan for the ballot and any industrial action which we hope will not be necessary, but for which we must plan for.”

Dr Marie Casey referenced on Twitter an "excellent" colleague of hers who is off work, suffering from exhaustion.

The specialist in public health medicine stated: "I'd strike for her. My anger knows no bounds.

"Sadly she's not the only specialist on sick leave.

We've given everything this year. We still want to. But I can't see us being able to sustain this without a relatively small number of extra new colleagues.

Consultant contracts were promised in a productivity agreement in 2019 between the IMO, the Department of Health, and the HSE in an effort to avert strike action in January that year, and was due to be implemented by July 2020.

Much of the increased-productivity aspect of the agreement was fast-tracked due to the Covid-19 crisis.

However, despite the public health specialists taking on the extra work, they did not receive the extra pay promised.