An industrial relations audit of the health services is to be undertaken immediately to examine the problem of recurring major disputes. The Minister for Health and Children, Mr Martin, says the audit is part of a major overhaul of relationships that will include national partnership and strategic health forums to involve unions more fully in the planning and provision of services.
"There have been 12 disputes in the last four years," he told The Irish Times."We have to change that pattern and we are doing a number of things to ensure that the best patterns of industrial relations prevail.
"Workers in the health service have to feel they are part of the process and I get the feeling, from going around the country to union conferences, they still do not feel part of the process. I am taking a number of steps to achieve that."
The industrial relations audit - to be carried out by the advisory service of the Labour Relations Commission - is the first step. It is expected to recommend new mechanisms to resolve disputes at local and national level. It will also look at the referral of disputes to third parties.
"The next step would be the establishment, in consultation with health management and unions, of a template for codes of best practice," he said. "I would want, as part of the code, that industrial relations mechanisms of the State would be exhausted before industrial action is pursued." However, Mr Martin acknowledged that in many disputes, such as the recent national nurses' dispute, health service unions had gone through all the proper procedures.
He agreed before a code could be agreed "a lot of confidence has to be built all round". The threatened strike by non-consultant hospital doctors was a clear case where trust had broken down. "Hopefully we have crossed the trust threshold with the interim agreement and a final settlement with the IMO [Irish Medical Organisation] is now in sight."
The third step in the process will be the establishment of a strategic health forum with a much wider remit than the partnership forum. It will establish a "strategic vision and plan for the next 10 years". It will involve regional seminars for health service staff and see submissions for a national health conference "that could be a clearing house for a number of initiatives.
"This would not just be a Department of Health and Children plan, everyone would have ownership of it. We are all on the same road and we share a common agenda to achieve a better health service for everyone."
Mr Martin is not out of the industrial minefield yet. Negotiations on the new contract for NCHDs has yet to be finalised, paramedics at the Impact conference last week voiced many criticisms of the review group report into their own grievances and the Psychiatric Nurses' Association is threatening to escalate its current work-to-rule to an all-out strike action from June 6th.
Mr Martin was adamant that all these disputes would have to be resolved within the context of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness. The new approach was much better than "everyone taking pot shots at each other".