The Government has extended the deadline for the completion of talks on a new contract for hospital consultants by three weeks to allow negotiations to continue.
However, Minister for Health Mary Harney said yesterday the Health Service Executive would begin advertising for about 350 additional consultant posts on revised terms from the week of April 17th. She said the Cabinet had decided to set a new deadline of April 17th for conclusion of the talks on foot of a positive report from the independent chairman of the negotiations, senior counsel Mark Connaughton.
Mr Connaughton had told the Government he was cautiously optimistic that agreement could be reached but warned that a number of core issues remained outstanding. Ms Harney said she believed that if these issues could not be resolved in three weeks, then we would not resolve them in three months or three years.
The outstanding issues include clinical independence and the rights of doctors to advocate on behalf of patients as well as private practice arrangements for new consultants.
Mr Connaughton said the issue of remuneration for a revised contract had not yet been addressed in the talks.
Ms Harney said it was intended that management would put forward an "interim salary" for the new consultant contracts in tandem with the talks over the next three weeks. She said these salary scales would be examined again by the review body on top level pay, which is due to report later in the year.
She said that even taking account of the Easter period, the 21-day extension set out by the Government was a considerable amount of time within which to conclude negotiations.
She said that the Government's moves in this area had nothing to do with the forthcoming election.
"My determination is to recruit additional consultants to deal with the long waits many patients have in many specialties such as neurology, urology or rheumatology in the west of Ireland.
"There are many gaps in the healthcare system where patients have to wait long periods for out-patient appointments because of shortages (of consultants). It was acknowledged since the Hanly report of the need to double the number of consultants, from 2,000 to 4,000, and the need to halve the number of non-consultant doctors. The process will begin in the week of April 17th," she said.
Ms Harney said the Government could not force the new contract on existing consultants but she hoped they would find the terms so favourable as to opt to accept the new agreement.
The Irish Hospital Consultants Association welcomed the extended deadline. However it said that the imposition of new contracts without agreement could cause major difficulties.
It is to hold an extraordinary general meeting on April 22nd to either consider an agreed new contract or discuss an action plan in the event of one being imposed by Government.
The Irish Medical Organisation said it ought to be possible to conclude a deal within the three-week timescale. It said the announcement of the plan to advertise posts from April 17th was unhelpful.
