New laws restricting the number of hours junior doctors can work came into effect today. The European Working Time Directive (EWTD) limits the doctors' hours to a maximum of 58 a week.
It is estimated that between one and five and one in six doctors will be compliant with the directive despite the absence of agreement on its implementation between the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) and the Health Service Employers Agency (HSEA).
Talks on the implementation of the EU directive have been adjourned unit mid-August by the Labour Relations Commission. The IMO and the HSEA held a five hour meeting in Dublin on Tuesday without making progress. The talks stalled over an inability to agree new rosters for non consultant hospital doctors.
Under the EWTD, non consultant hospital doctors must be given eleven consecutive hours of rest within each 24 hour period and thirty five consecutive hours of rest every seven days.
Employers face significant fines for every day the European Working Time Directive is breached. Under the legislation junior doctors are entitled to seek compensation via an employment rights commissioner. Compensation can be up to two years remuneration.
Both the IMO and the HSEA have indicated that industrial action on the issue of the directive was unlikely while both sides were engaged in a formal process with the Labour Relations Commission.
Employers claim that junior doctors are seeking to protect overtime earnings while maintaining a working day of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
However, the IMO argues that the issue is not about pay but about safe rostering and ensuring junior doctors received appropriate training under the supervision of consultants.