Public health doctors set two-week deadline for deal on new contract and pay issue

Public health doctors have set the Government a two-week deadline to reach a deal to resolve a dispute over the introduction of hospital consultant-type contracts and pay issues.

The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has signalled that if there is no progress by then it will look at rescheduling a series of planned strikes which were deferred in January due to Covid-19 pressures at the time.

The Irish Times understands that public health doctors recently rejected proposals put forward by the Department of Health.

It is understood the department proposed at the end of January that fewer than a dozen public health consultant or leadership positions would be established initially, with potential for more at some stage in the future.

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The doctors have been campaigning for some time for public health to become a consultant-led service, and for specialists in the field to be awarded consultant contracts “to reflect their expertise and specialist skills”.

It is understood the doctors believed that the department proposals would be insufficient to deal with the status issue nor capable of delivering an adequately-resourced public health service.

A spokesman for Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly declined to comment last night on the negotiations.

New model

The IMO wants the new round of talks, which are commencing on Thursday, to address the issue of consultant status and associated contracts for public health specialists, a new model for the service, as well as guarantees on timelines for implementation and funding.

Public health specialists currently earn about €113,000. Hospital consultants with an existing type-A contract – which permits them to treat only public patients – have a pay scale that ranges from €141,026 to €195,653.

Pay for hospital consultants treating only public patients is expected to rise to about €250,000 under a proposed new Sláintecare contract, although this has not yet been agreed with medical representative organisations.