Junior hospital doctors are spending 17 per cent of their time searching for patients' X-rays and laboratory test results and on tasks like portering which could be done by other staff, a new study has found.
The findings come from a review of working habits of junior or non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs) at nine hospitals across the State.
It was completed to establish how many junior doctors would need to be on duty during the day and at night, when attempts are made to reduce their hours to comply with the European Working Time Directive (EWTD).
The directive, which came into force a year ago, stipulated that junior doctors' hours should be reduced to an average of 58 a week from August 2004. However, some are still working more than 100 hours a week.
The study found NCHDs spent 55 per cent of their time on duty-performing tasks. The busiest period was from 8am to 4pm when 44 per cent of tasks were performed. Some 42 per cent of tasks were undertaken between 4pm and midnight, and 14 per cent between midnight and 8am.
Health service employers want to get junior doctors to work shifts, with more doctors rostered during busy periods, but the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO), which represents junior doctors, wants work outside normal hours paid as overtime.
The time spent on different tasks by junior doctors was measured by medical students and analysed by the University of York.
Overall, 48 per cent of junior doctors's tasks were classified as patient care, 35 per cent as interactions with others, and 17 per cent as "finding stuff and paperwork".
Brendan Mulligan of the Health Service Executive Employers Agency welcomed the report. "What we want to do now is reorganise our attendance patterns in a more cost-effective way that offers improved quality of care to patients and also that complies with the provision of the EWTD," he said.
Fintan Hourihan, IMO director of industrial relations, said there was a "profound sense of concern" among NCHDs about moving to formal shift working.
"Doctors do see that the role of nurses can be enhanced as part of reforms and clearly we see that NCHDs are doing the work of a number of grades at present, which cannot continue," he added. But he said all changes would have to be agreed with nurses and doctors.