Health service management has been asked to provide specific provision in the new consultant contract for doctors to engage in clinical research.
At a meeting with health service management last month a group, including Dr Jim Egan, consultant physician at the Mater Hospital, and Sharon Higgins and Rosemary Durcan of the Irish Medical Devices Association, argued that the new contract should contain protected time to allow consultants to carry out research.
It is understood they maintained that historically many medical staff in Ireland had extensive international standard experience of research and development in the health services in other jurisdictions.
However, they said the current structures within our health service mitigated against such activity and created a barrier to indigenous Irish medical device and diag- nostic companies entering into partnerships with doctors.
A report of a cross-sectoral clinical trials task force last year proposed that the consultant contract should specifically recognise the need for academic clinicians.
It said that it should do this by allowing a variable number of work sessions for research for appropriately qualified doctors. "The amount of protected time may vary from three to eight sessions depending on the needs of the individual and of the hospital.
"Enough clinicians must be provided to maintain the full clinical service. If this is not done, clinical work will continue to erode the research of academic clinicians," it said.
It is understood that the group, at its meeting with the HSE management, maintained that there were obstacles within the hospital structure to the carrying out of research. They said that Irish industry was forced to undertake R&D in other European countries.
It is understood, they stressed, that it would represent a significant advance for Ireland if the HSE was to allocate protected time for clinicians to engage in research and development. The group argued that research time appeared to be receiving little attention during the current contract negotiations.