Fianna Fáil has said it is committed to reforming the consultants' contracts ahead of ballot results due this evening that will decide whether hospital consultants will begin industrial action.
Members of the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association (IHCA) are expected to vote for industrial action in protest against a decision by the Minister for Health and the Health Service Executive (HSE) to seek to recruit 68 new consultants on contractual terms that have not been agreed by them.
The action, which could start as soon as Monday week, would cause further disruption to an already embattled health service and will see consultants refuse to take part in hospital and national committees or attend meetings with HSE senior management.
Outlining Fianna Fáil's plans for the health service if re-elected, Minister for Children Brian Lenihan said today the consultants' contract was in "urgent need of reform" and said it was the "most important contract of all in the health service".
He said Fianna Fáil would introduce a free, personal health check programme within five years for "people at certain stages in the life cycle" referred by a health expert.
The party also promised to establish 20 local injury clinics, also over a five-year period, to take the pressure off A&E units throughout the country by treating minor injuries and illnesses.
The party also pledged 2,000 more hospital beds and said these included the 500 beds set down in the National Development Plan, 1,000 beds to be freed up by the removal of private capacity through co-location plans and a further 500 beds to be achieved through extra investment.
Mr Lenihan claimed Fianna Fáil's plans were "ambitious" but fully costed, accusing the Opposition parties of making health promises that "don't stand up to even basic scrutiny".
He said the Fine Gael/Labour promise to introduce 2,300 new public beds within seven years was riddled with "practical and financial problems". He said Fianna Fáil had produced the National Development Plan and knew it had a limited capacity to deliver 500 hospital beds only.
Calling on Fine Gael and Labour to explain how they would afford to deliver their promises, Mr Lenihan said: "Health is an important issue in this election, and the onus is on the Opposition to come forward with solutions."