Industrial action by family doctors is likely to begin later this year unless the Government keeps its promise to pay GPs recent national wage awards and include them in a benchmarking process, the Irish Medical Organisation has warned.
On the eve of its annual conference in Killarney, IMO president Dr James Reilly said yesterday that LRC talks to resolve these issues had broken up without agreement and no date had been set for further talks. If no agreement was reached, members would be balloted on industrial action, he said.
"What other group of workers would still be delivering a service having been denied their 2 per cent pay round in July 2004 and a further 2 per cent in December 2004? Everybody else has received it," he said. "They are trying to attach conditions to it that they are not entitled to and have not been attached to payments to any other group of workers."
Health service employers want the GPs to engage in a review of the operation of the medical card scheme before paying the awards. Dr Reilly said he had no difficulty with such a review but the payments should not be conditional on it.
While Dr Reilly said the IMO still hoped the issues could be resolved at the LRC it could not wait forever for an agreement.
He said the conference would also express its anger at what it perceived as Minister for Health Mary Harney's support for plans for a private minor injury unit, backed by the VHI, in south Dublin, as well as at her plans to provide "half medical cards" - doctor only medical cards - to 200,000 low income families.
The minor injury unit was to be established in an area with one of the best GP-to-patient ratios in the State, he said. There was one GP to every 1,600 patients in south Dublin but on average only one to every 3,500 patients in north Dublin.
Ms Harney is likely to get a cool reception when she arrives tomorrow to address delegates.