The only way to avert widespread strike action by junior doctors would be for management to pay proper overtime rates, the Irish Medical Organisation said yesterday. The union voted last evening by 98 per cent for action for higher overtime rates, shorter working hours and better staffing ratios.
After the result the Health Service Employers' Agency offered to resume talks immediately. But the IMO's director of industrial relations, Mr Fintan Hourihan, said non-consultant hospital doctors were totally frustrated at the delaying tactics of a management, which had allowed the health services to "sway from one crisis to another". He thought that the minimum demonstration of good faith required for his members to defer strike action would be immediate agreement "on the key issue of overtime".
The NCHD committee is expected to meet midweek and is likely to serve strike notice of at least one week afterwards. Mr Hourihan says emergency cover will be provided and elective admissions and outpatient services will bear the brunt of any disruption. However, until the IMO subcommittee meets it is not clear what level of cover will be provided in accident and emergency departments. There are only 14 A & E consultants in the system, according to the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association.
It has already written to the Minister for Health and Children, Mr Martin, expressing concern about the ability of consultants to cope in the absence of the State's 2,800 NCHDs.
The IHCS general secretary, Mr Finbarr Fitzpatrick, is predicting that waiting lists will increase at a similar rate to that during the nurses' strike last October. During the two-week strike the reduction achieved in the previous nine months was eliminated.
On this occasion the issues are less complex than during the nurses' dispute but appear equally intractable. The NCHDs are seeking a reduced working week, overtime to be paid at premium rates and the elimination of regular unpaid overtime through better staffing ratios and locum cover.
The HSEA says the forthcoming EU directive on working hours will reduce the present 65-hour week to 48 hours over the next nine years. It wants overtime rates to be set in the framework of a new working week. It argues that these can only be discussed effectively after the completion of a joint union-management study of working hours, expected by the end of May. It also wants doctors to agree to shift rosters and on-call arrangements similar to those of nurses and paramedics.
Mr Martin said last night that he was committed to pursuing "fundamental reforms in the NCHDs' working conditions". However, these should be a matter for negotiation.