Consultant group refusing to attend hearing on work practice reforms

THE IRISH Hospital Consultants Association has said it will not be attending a planned Labour Court hearing on Thursday on management proposals for work-practice changes under the Croke Park agreement.

The move could put the association on a collision course with the Government. The Health Service Executive said last night it seemed the IHCA was walking away from the Croke Park deal.

The Labour Court was due to deal with two issues referred by management under the Croke Park process – changes to current rest-day arrangements and reforms to fees for second opinions in the area of mental health. Under the Croke Park agreement, such Labour Court recommendations would be binding.

Another issue – historic rest days – was to be referred to the Labour Court under other industrial relations legislation and would not be binding. However, the IHCA signalled last night that it would not be taking part in the scheduled Labour Court hearing.

IHCA secretary general Martin Varley told The Irish Times that section 2.8 of the Croke Park deal said that all previous agreements remained intact except for 15 areas of reforms listed elsewhere in the document.

The IHCA said none of the proposed changes referred to in the Labour Court were within the scope of the specific health sector measures included in the Croke Park agreement.

Mr Varley also said members of the association had voted overwhelmingly that it could not enter into collective agreements which would change the terms of their legally binding contracts without their personal consent.

He said on the basis of these issues the IHCA was not in a position to agree to participate in the scheduled Labour Court hearing.

The Irish Medical Organisation, which represents a smaller number of hospital consultants, said it would attend the Labour Court hearing.

Last week, Minister for Health James Reilly said if hospital consultants did not co-operate with a Labour Court recommendation they could find themselves outside the protections of the Croke Park agreement. This could lead to the introduction of pay cuts for serving hospital consultants.

The Government has already put in place pay cuts of 30 per cent for new consultants.

Last night, HSE national director of human resources Barry O’Brien said it had repeatedly stressed it wanted to treat all staff with a parity of esteem and equality of treatment. He said by its decision the IHCA would appear to consider the Croke Park agreement applied differently to its members as public servants than it did to other groups.

The IHCA said hospital consultants had been implementing reforms and wished to have constructive discussions leading to further improvements in the health services.

“Dr Reilly and the HSE last year sought consultants’ support to deliver health service improvements through the clinical care programmes, within existing contracts and the public service agreement”.

It said all reports had confirmed consultants were delivering these improvements.