Progress report: The board of the Health Service Executive will hear a presentation on Thursday from its senior negotiators on the progress of the talks on a new contract for hospital consultants. However, there are no indications at present that there will be any new initiatives to break the current deadlock.
Talks on the proposed new contract were adjourned indefinitely earlier this month following an acrimonious meeting between the bodies representing consultants and senior health service management.
The independent chairman of the talks, senior counsel Mark Connaughton, has met all the parties individually over the past week or so in a bid to make progress. However, sources said that there had been no movement.
The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) and the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) are furious at the decision of health service management not to inform them during talks in January that the board of the HSE had already decided to abolish a category of consultant post which allowed the doctor to see and treat fee-paying patients in private hospitals.
The IHCA and the IMO have set out three pre-conditions for a resumption of talks. These are: the suspension of the plan to abolish this category of consultant post pending the completion of the negotiations; an agreement that the issue of payment would be determined in the current process and not be referred to an outside body, and a commitment from health service management that there would be no more unilateral initiatives.
Sources close to the Department of Health have indicated that the Government would have no difficulty with the suspension of the decision on the category II consultant post.
However, it is understood that such a move would have to be approved by the board of the HSE which made the decision in the first place.
HSE sources said this week that there was no indication that there would be any change in approach.
The Tánaiste Mary Harney has said that she would move to impose a new "public-only" hospital contract if no agreement could be reached with the medical bodies within the next few months.
