Taoiseach Enda Kenny called on non-consultant hospital doctors to call off their industrial dispute.
Mr Kenny said it was critical that the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) was able to negotiate with the HSE and the doctors. "That is where it will be addressed and the only people who really suffer as a consequence of it not being addressed there are patients and outpatients waiting for treatment," he added.
Mr Kenny was replying to Independent TD Stephen Donnelly who said he had been told by the doctors that if their proposal to shorten the working week was accepted, their overall pay would fall.
“When I asked them what kind of duties they might perform after spending 36 hours working flat out in a hospital, they said they may have to perform a lumbar puncture or resuscitate patients in the emergency department,” he added. “They told me about colleagues who had fallen asleep in operating theatres.”
Mr Kenny said the way to address the issue was to take the propositions by the doctors and the HSE back to the Labour Relations Commission.
“There are two propositions on sanctions on the table and if there is a difference of opinion, surely they can arrive at a workable compromise that will see the directive fully implemented by the end of next year,” he said.
Minister for Health James Reilly, replying to FF health spokesman Billy Kelleher, said that at his request the HSE had set up a group to bring a focus to implementation of the working time directive. The group had made progress relating to the number of doctors working more than 24 hours in a single shift and instances of doctors working more than 68 hours a week, he said.
