Time for both sides to compromise

MINISTER for Health Mícheál Martin yesterday unequivocally ruled out the possibility of his direct intervention in the hospital doctors dispute, which is regrettable.

By opting to allow the industrial relations process take its own course, the minister is running a serious risk of having this dispute fester and gradually develop into a long drawn-out affair, and maybe even extend to become nationwide.

So far, this industrial mediation process has proven inadequate as witnessed by the non attendance of the Health Services Employers Association (HSEA) at the Labour Relations Commission talks on Monday.

After that futile exercise, the chairman of the commission, Kieran Mulvey, expressed his concern that the dispute could spread further afield before the end of the month.

At the moment, junior doctors in Tullamore are on strike for three days, while their counterparts in Waterford have undertaken action of indefinite duration.

A serious question mark, in any case, hangs over whether the issues concerned warrant the kind of industrial action which the Irish Medical Organisation has embarked upon.

Both the IMO and the employers concur on the core of the dispute, which is to reduce the number of hours worked by non-consultant doctors.

At the moment, their working week is an average of 77 hours.

By force of an EU directive, those hours must be reduced to 58 in two years time and ultimately down to a 48-hour week by 2010.

Where both sides diverge is on where in the working week those hours should be cut, and whether the reductions impinge on facilitating doctor training.

In the meantime, the only victims are those who have to endure further delays for surgery and out-patient treatment, in many cases probably having already had to wait inordinately long to get those appointments.

While it is understandable that young doctors should be concerned about training, any reduction in the ridiculously long hours they were being forced to work must be welcomed. For their own sake, and especially that of their patients, it is about time that a more sensible regime governing the hours they work was introduced.

That having been established, and accepted by both sides, it must be within the competence of both sides to agree how new rosters should be drawn up and implemented.

This dispute does not warrant the trauma and worry being imposed on patients in Waterford and Tullamore, and possibly thousands more, if it is not resolved as soon as possible.

Before that stage is arrived at, the current dispute should be contained by all concerned agreeing to return to the Labour Relations Commission immediately to resume negotiations.

To facilitate that happening in an atmosphere of compromise, the IMO should call off the current industrial action and the disputed rosters should be suspended.

If the Minister for Health wants to maintain a public posture of non intervention, he could at least use his considerable influence behind the scenes to have the new rosters deferred in order to smoothen the path back to the LRC.

The bottom line is that the main consideration must be for the hundreds of patients who are being gratuitously harmed by this dispute.