The chairman of the consultant contract talks, which broke down almost two weeks ago, is holding another round of meetings with all sides in an attempt to establish a basis restarting negotiations. Eithne Donnellan, Health Correspondent, reports.
Mark Connaughton SC met with the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) yesterday and with the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) on Thursday night. He is due to meet the Health Service Executive Employers' Agency on Monday.
When talks collapsed he revealed, in correspondence to all sides, that it appeared he had little further to contribute to the negotiations but he has since been encouraged to try and get the sides back talking.
The IMO and IHCA have made it clear they are prepared to go back into talks, but only if they are given a commitment by the HSE that the 68 new consultant posts advertised recently are filled on the basis of an agreed contract and not on the basis of an imposed one.
The HSE and Minister for Health Mary Harney have said talks should continue and this could allow a contract to be possibly agreed before the posts are filled, as it can take up to a year to fill new consultant positions. However, they have stopped short of saying the posts will only be filled on the basis of an agreed contract.
Meanwhile, the IHCA said it is concerned the executive is going to soon advertise further new consultant posts on contracts which have not been agreed.
Finbarr Fitzpatrick, secretary general of the IHCA, said several hospitals in the southeast were contacted in recent days and told to give details of consultant posts which should be advertised.
In a letter to hospital managers yesterday, he said any effort they make to assist in the advertising of further posts under the terms of a disputed contract "can only lead to friction and acrimony between consultants and management at hospital level".
He added that the efforts of hospital management and the HSE should be directed towards devising a formula which would facilitate the return to contract negotiations rather than towards advertising more jobs on terms which hadn't been agreed.
Fintan Hourihan, director of industrial relations with the IMO, said if the executive advertises more jobs on disputed terms it would be evidence it was trying to escalate the dispute.
Both the IHCA and the IMO have advised consultants not to co-operate with the filling of new posts and they have told junior doctors at home and abroad not to apply for them.
The new jobs attract a salary of at least €205,000 and Ms Harney has already said she wants to recruit hundreds more consultants as quickly as possible on revised terms.