Public health doctors vote 'overwhelmingly' in favour of  industrial action

IMO: The ballot sought 'authorisation for public health doctors to take industrial action in pursuit of their campaign for consultant status'. File picture: Pexels

A ballot among public health doctors has voted “overwhelmingly” in favour of industrial action. Almost all of the 91 Specialists in Public Health Medicine (SPHMs) eligible to vote took part in the ballot of the Irish Medical Organisation Public Health members.

The results were announced at 5pm and showed that 94% voted in favour of industrial action.

They are taking the action over their fight to get consultants status and contracts, something they have been looking for more than 17 years.

Dr Ina Kelly, Chair of the IMO Public Health Committee, said: “This is a fight for the future of Public Health Medicine in Ireland.

“The refusal to follow international best practice and recognise consultant status and provide consultant contracts for suitably qualified Specialists in Public Health Medicine and the inadequate staff and resources for Public Health Medicine can no longer be tolerated.

“We will take industrial action in order to save Public Health Medicine in this country and to help make it fit-for-purpose.

“Doctors fully recognise their ethical responsibilities to patients and are very angry that Government has effectively forced us to take industrial action.

“Government must recognise that it too has an ethical responsibility to provide a comprehensive, safe, effective and sustainable Public Health Medicine service to the Irish people.”

In reaction to the IMO ballot result, a Department of Health spokesperson said: "The Minister for Health, and the Department of Health fully support the creation of consultant level roles in Public Health Medicine.

"The creation of these roles is a priority for the Minister for Health as public health specialists have waited for many years for consultant status.

"The Department and HSE have finalised a detailed framework for a future Public Health model, to include consultant level roles, while also considering the important health protection requirements necessary in managing the current pandemic in the medium term.

"The business case, outlining the proposed framework, was submitted by the Minister for Health to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform on the 19th November 2020.

"We would hope that the issue can be resolved through engagement with the IMO and that industrial action can be avoided.

"Our public health specialists have been to the forefront of our response to the pandemic in Ireland.

"They have made an enormous contribution to the protection of everybody living in Ireland. "The pandemic has had very significant implications for how public health medicine is organised and managed and our public health specialists have responded to every request made of them.

"We want to work with our public health specialists to make sure we have the best public health structure possible."

The Irish Medical Organisation has warned the Government throughout the year - and had again last month - that industrial action was likely.

This was because there had not been enough progress in government talks over their campaign for consultant status.

The four-page contract SPHMs, who have led Ireland’s response to Covid-19, sign gives them - in effect - the same status as that of an admin secretary.

Despite being a vital cornerstone in our health system, public health specialism is - as the deputy chief medical officer Ronan Glynn said in September - a largely “unsung and unthanked” one.

They investigate and control notifiable infectious diseases and outbreaks.

They are essentially the public health experts tasked with making sure outbreaks don’t kill everyone.

Earlier this year, public health specialists warned that if they were to work to the letter of their existing contracts “the public health service would collapse”.

This is because their workload has increased massively due to the pandemic, but many say they have not been given enough resources to cope with the workload.

This has led to, among other things, an increased number of SPHMs being off work with stress.

Consultant status and contracts were promised as part of a pay and productivity agreement in 2019.

That deal was struck between the IMO, the Department of Health, and the HSE to avert strike action in 2019 and was due to be fully implemented by July 2020.

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

However, despite SPHMs taking on the extra work ahead of schedule, they did not get the extra pay they were promised.

Public health doctors earn €113,000 a year, while consultants earn up to between €195,000 and €199,000.