Doctors to decide next week on industrial action in hospitals

Medical consultants and non-consultant hospital doctors are to decide at a national meeting next week whether they should take industrial action over pay and recruitment issues.

The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) had set the Government a deadline of next week to produce concrete proposals for dealing with the existing two-tier pay system for medical consultants working in the public health system.

The IMO said in mid October that at talks on the issue the Department of Health and the Department of Public Expenditure had failed to put forward any proposals to address what it described as "the crisis in hospital consultant recruitment".

The Department of Health and the Department of Public Expenditure are scheduled to hold separate talks with the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA), which also represents medical specialists, next Wednesday.

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The IMO said it will hold a national meeting of its consultant and non-consultant doctor members next Wednesday “to decide on whether to proceed to ballot for industrial action regarding the consultant recruitment crisis”.

Medical representative bodies maintain the current two-tier system can see consultants appointed after October 2012 receive up to €50,000 per year less than more longer-serving colleagues.

Medical bodies argue that the lower pay rates for newer-entrant consultants has led to hospitals being unable to fill about 500 specialist posts on a permanent basis.

In August the Minister for Health Simon Harris described the two-tier pay system as "unfair" and said he would invite medical organisations to take part in a process in the autumn.

The Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe wrote to Mr Harris several days later to express his strong concerns at the move.