New grade of hospital doctor pledged

Minister for Health James Reilly has pledged to establish a new grade of hospital doctor by the end of the year to fill the vacuum between junior doctors and consultants.

Dr Reilly admitted there was a problem in relation to “the lack of a career path” when it came to junior doctors or non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs) that prompted many to leave the system upon finishing their training which was placing severe pressure on public hospitals.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, the Minister said he wanted to avoid a situation, which had arisen in other countries, whereby the sector became "a sort of graveyard" for those who failed to make consultancy grade.

Dr Reilly said his department planned to establish of new grade of hospital doctor, similar to that in the UK, by the end of the year which could deliver routine and emergency care under the supervision of a consultant.

“I want to send a message to those NCHDs who are coming to the end of their specialist training that we will have a new grade by the end of this year so that they shouldn’t look to leave immediately and that they’re will be opportunities.”

Dr Reilly admitted the long hours frequently worked by NCHDs, often in contravention of the European Union’s working time directive, was “wrong” and that he was working to address the issue.

The Government was recently forced to inform the European Commission that it was not in position to comply with the rules governing the amount of hours junior doctors worked.

The Commission had put the Government on notice that doctors in Irish hospitals were potentially putting patients at risk by working in excess of the 48-hour maximum allowed and, in some cases, worked in excess of 70 hours.

Progress in complying with the 48-hour maximum has been frustrated by a shortage of junior doctors in the public hospital system.

Last summer, an acute shortage of junior doctors led to severe pressure on hospital services across the State.

Some 193 vacant posts were not entirely filled until the last few weeks of the medical training system’s six-monthly rotation following the recruitment of doctors from India and Pakistan.

The Irish Hospital Consultants’ Association recently warned the next training rotation - due to commence this month – may result in the same shortages.

While admitting it was not ideal to have NCHDs working such long hours, Dr Reilly described the work practices in some public hospitals as “archaic”.

“I was astonished that interns are still sent scurrying around hospitals as messengers looking for X-ray reports and this and that and the other,” he said.

“This is not the sort of work that’s appropriate for someone you’re paying €36,000 or €40,000 a year to.”

“They are other ways of dealing with those issues and clearly, the electronification of records and reports will greatly alleviate a lot of the waste in hospitals, especially in terms of doctors’ hours,” he said.