General practitioners may threaten to withdraw from the General Medical Scheme next week if there is no progress in talks with the Department of Health over fees for administering the flu vaccine. Doctors agreed to dispense the vaccine free of charge last year while fees were negotiated.
If there is no breakthrough in the next few days, the Irish Medical Organisation is expected to announce the intention of members to withdraw from the scheme early next week. The dispute could lead to extra strain on the major acute hospitals and health centres just as the national nurses strike begins on October 19th.
There was no evidence yesterday of any moves to resolve the issue. A Department of Health spokesman insisted flu vaccination was a matter between the health boards and GPs, while the IMO accused the Department of "burying its head in the sand and expecting doctors to get on with it".
The chairman of the organisation's GP committee, Dr Liam Lynch, added that his members would not allow those in need of vaccination to become "the meat in the sandwich". Pending a negotiated agreement, he called on doctors to administer the vaccine, if necessary outside normal working hours.
Asked if doctors would charge for the service, he said "no medical card patient, or other patient, will be refused treatment on the basis of inability to pay for it".
Meanwhile the Mater Hospital in Dublin has begun to pay non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs) arrears of about £250,000 in overtime. Some of the money has been owing for more than two years.
The industrial relations director of the IMO, Mr Fintan Hourihan, said yesterday strike notice for October 14th still stood. "We'll need confirmation that all due entitlements are being paid in full before we withdraw the notice," he said. IMO representatives expect to meet hospital management next week to discuss progress in paying the arrears.
The chief executive of the Mater, Mr Martin Cowley, said some of the arrears had already been included in the September payslips and the rest should follow by the end of October. He estimated the average payment at about £180.
NCHDs at St Colmcille's hospital, Loughlinstown, Co Dublin, are also balloting for strike action. The dispute is over lack of locum cover, overtime arrears and poor accommodation. Their ballot result is due on Monday.
This dispute is likely to prove more difficult to resolve than that at the Mater. Arrears of overtime are based on a claim that NCHDs should be paid locum rates for extra hours worked because no locum was available. Again two weeks strike notice is likely to be served about the time the nurses strike begins.
Two of the nursing unions, the Irish Nurses Organisation and the Psychiatric Nurses Association, have begun balloting members in private hospitals on a claim for parity with colleagues in the public sector. The claim was served over a week ago.
The PNA general secretary, Mr Des Kavanagh, said yesterday private hospitals always had difficulty recruiting staff. If they met the claims from the unions, it would resolve this problem, he said. The Nursing Alliance is to meet on Monday to discuss progress in the current strike ballot in the public health services, and negotiations at local level with management on emergency cover.