Move may lead to industrial action by non-consultant hospital doctors.
The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) is to ballot its non-consultant doctor members at Beaumont Hospital for industrial action this week because of what it said were breaches by management of agreements on overtime payments and the provision of locum cover.
Beaumont has told the IMO that it intends that all unrostered overtime carried out by non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHD) should be kept to a minimum and not exceed 10 hours per week.
It said that, in future, all unrostered overtime worked by NCHDs at the hospital would require the prior approval of the relevant consultant.
The hospital has said that it will pay for such authorised overtime as well as for rostered overtime by NCHDS. It said that unrostered overtime above 10 hours per week should only occur in a small number of specialties.
Beaumont also said that short-term cover for NCHDs who are absent should be provided from within the medical teams. It said that this has always been the practice in the hospital. The hospital also said that there were separate arrangements for long-term leave cover.
However, director of industrial relations at the IMO Fintan Hourihan said that management at Beaumont had breached national agreements between the organisation and the Health Service Executive governing unrostered overtime as well as the NCHD contract regarding the provision of locum cover.
In a statement, Beaumont Hospital said that there had been a particularly sharp increase in overtime payments since its current cohort of non-consultant doctors took up their positions last July compared to previous years, without any corresponding increase in the levels of patient activity.
It said that management at the hospital was "obviously keen to identify the reasons behind this and to establish how increases in overtime hours can be contained".
The hospital said that, so far this year, the number of hours worked by NCHDs had increased by 15 per cent compared to the same period last year without any significant change in activity levels.
Beaumont also said that while its monthly bill for overtime payments to its 255 non-consultant doctors had been running at approximately €900,000, this figure had increased by €200,000 to €1.1 million in September.
Beaumont said that addressing the increasing trend in overtime for non-consultant hospital doctors was an important part in a process to come within its budget by the end of the year.
It is understood that NCHDs in Beaumont worked on average 25 hours a week in rostered and unrostered overtime during the month of September. Of this the necessity of approximately four hours is at issue.
Beaumont has forecast, based on average earning to date in 2007, that its interns, who have recently graduated from medical school, will earn €67,600 this year, of which €35,000 will be overtime. The hospital has estimated that senior house officers will receive €76,000, of which €33,000 will be overtime and that registrars will on average earn €97,500 including €43,000 in overtime. The hospital has also predicted that specialist registrars will receive €124,500 on average including €56,700 in overtime.
The IMO said that the publication of the NCHD earnings by the hospital was aimed at distracting attention away from its failure to adhere to agreements.