IMO advises consultants not to apply for positions

The organisation's director of industrial relations, Fintan Hourihan, told delegates at its annual conference in Killarney it was not in the interests of consultants to apply for the posts. He criticised Ms Harney for announcing that she would advertise them at this stage, while consultants' contracts were being renegotiated

The Government has set a deadline of next Tuesday to end the talks. Ms Harney has said she intends to advertise 50 of 350 new consultants' posts once the deadline had passed.

"This is a highly provocative move. It is the equivalent of balloting for industrial action and fixing a date for a strike right in the middle of negotiations," Mr Hourihan said. "We see it as a deliberate attempt to orchestrate a dispute for political gain."

He said consultants would be advised not to co-operate with short listing procedures or to participate in interview panels for the posts. The Irish Hospital Consultants' Association (IHCA), the larger of the two consultant representative bodies, has already said that if the Minister proceeds with plans to make the new appointments, they will advise their members to boycott the process.

Outgoing president of the IMO, Dr Christine O'Malley, said the Minister was acting as if Michael O'Leary should be in charge of the health service, but she should look instead to Roy Keane as a role model. "In a single season, Roy Keane has taken Sunderland from the bottom of the table to the top," she said. "Roy Keane understood that Sunderland was a team that could achieve greatness. Motivate people. Treat them properly. Give them the facilities they need. Yes, spend some money, but spend it carefully."

She said the country was dealing with "war-time rationing of healthcare while living in a consumer society" and that although HSE figures showed a falling number of trolleys in A&E, they did not reflect reality.

"The reality is that A&E patients are accommodated in day wards and even outpatient day clinics and those services are closed down instead," she said. "The HSE uses creative accounting when counting trolleys and hospitals have to hide the problem to avoid budget cuts."

She said there are not enough beds, theatres or frontline staff but instead of giving extra beds, the HSE is saying the workers are the problem. On the move toward the patient as customer, Dr O'Malley said we have switched from "doctor knows best" to "the customer is always right" without a thought.

"The patient still expects and trusts the doctor to do the right thing but also expects to tell the doctor what to do," she said. She told her successor, Dr Paula Gilvarry, that she was facing a tough challenge. "Patients need doctors to fight their corner and doctors need the IMO," she said.