Further protests by non-consultant hospital doctors have been averted after the Irish Medical Organisation and the Health Service Employers' Agency agreed yesterday to speed up talks on reducing working hours. The agreement also proposes to look at ways of diverting non-essential work from hospital doctors, improving their training facilities and protecting them from excessive hours.
On June 9th hundreds of NCHDs at 30 major hospitals in the Republic held unofficial one-hour protests after hearing that the Government had supported a proposal at the EU Council of Ministers to phase in a 48-hour week for hospital doctors over 13 years. At present, many work in excess of 100 hours.
Under the "Action Plan on Working Hours for NCHDs" the IMO, the HSEA and the Department of Health and Children commit themselves to introducing the 48-hour week over a shorter, but unspecified time span. As a first step, a study of current working conditions is to be undertaken.
Mr Fintan Hourihan, of the IMO, said the plan met the immediate objectives of the IMO, but stressed that what had been achieved was "the start of a process" rather than an end in itself.
HSEA negotiator Mr Pearse Costello said management was committed to a shorter time scale than that envisaged by the Council of Ministers.