Hospital consultants have said that three days of talks this week with health service management on a new contract had made some progress in a number of areas.
However, the talks will not deal with critical issues such as pay and the working week for consultants under a new contract until they resume on Tuesday.
The secretary general of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association, Finbarr Fitzpatrick, said last night that there had been some progress made in the areas of practice plans for consultants, team working, locums and the introduction of new clinical directors in hospitals.
It is understood that the talks yesterday also dealt with the issue of proposals by management that consultants should in future be rostered over a seven-day week. However, specific working times were not addressed at the talks. Mr Fitzpatrick said that working hours and the financial package on offer would be high on the agenda for the talks on Tuesday.
The Health Service Executive Employers Agency has said that the current round of the talks are the last chance for the foreseeable future for an agreement between medical organisations and management on a new contract for consultants. It is generally accepted that if agreement is not reached that the Government will seek to introduce unilaterally a new contract for consultants without agreement with the medical organisations.
Health service management has proposed that, in future, consultants should either have very restricted or no private practice rights, work as part of teams over an extended working day and that weekend work should be considered part of the normal roster.