There will be chaos in the State's acute hospitals if agreement on consultants' contracts with the Department of Health is not reached by the end of the month, the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association has warned. Five days have been set aside for negotiations, which resume on Thursday, between the Department, the IHCA and the Irish Medical Organisation.
Mr Finbarr Fitzpatrick, IHCA secretary general, said yesterday that an unsatisfactory outcome could result in administrative and planning chaos in hospitals.
"Negotiations started on March 18th but there has been very little progress since then. If we do not have the bones of an agreement by the time we meet for our a.g.m. on September 27th we will have to turn our minds to things that we can do to bring pressure on the Department of Health," said Mr Fitzpatrick.
The withdrawal of co-operation in policy-making and administration was being considered. "Hospitals have huge administration and planning machines that could grind to a halt very quickly if consultants withdrew co-operation."
Consultants voluntarily undertook this kind of work, which includes committees on drugs, operating theatres, examinations, and the recruitment of junior doctors, he told the Irish Medical News. But they would be forced to withdraw from areas outside their immediate clinical commitment.
The IHCA was precluded from taking any action that would disadvantage patients, and this was "being held against them". They were forced to examine other options, he said.
A major point of contention between both sides in the negotiations on the Buckley review of consultants' pay and conditions is out-of-hours payments. Consultants are strongly opposed to these being included in their basic salary.
"The present contract is broadly acceptable but much of what is in the Buckley report is not acceptable. The Department of Health produced a document in June that contained the worst of the Buckley report. They are failing totally to appreciate the out-of-hours element of a consultant's work", Mr Fitzpatrick said.