Government accused of "compromising" health of public

THE health of the public is being compromised to an unacceptable extent because of the Government's failure to resolve a 14 month dispute with environmental health officers, the IMPACT trade union has claimed following the latest breakdown of talks.

More than 100 pieces of legislation, including new food safety and anti smoking regulations, were not being implemented, according to Mr Robert Doyle, of IMPACT's Environmental Health Officers group.

The Department of Health with the co operation of IMPACT, has completed a review of the EHO service and recommended establishing new structures for EHOs.

This process has taken six months, but the union said it has come to a halt as the Government has not adopted the Department's recommendations.

EHOs have sought improved pay and structures to match work changes since 1981, which involve a greater emphasis on prevention. The IMPACT spokesman said, however, that it was not a pay issue as such. About 100 EHOs were involved and increased pay costs would only represent £150,000 per year over 10 years.

A spokeswoman for the Department said it did not believe that talks had "broken down". The matter was subject to ongoing discussion between the Departments of Health and Finance, but the constraints of the PCW pay deal were a factor.

The union wanted to negotiate outside these, she said.