Talks between health service management and medical organisations on a new contract for hospital consultants are likely to continue into next week. The parties yesterday embarked on three days of intensive negotiations at a hotel near Naas, Co Kildare.
However, informed sources indicated that it was likely to be the middle of next week before any agreement would be finally reached.
The chief executive of the Health Service Executive Employers' Agency, Gerard Barry, said that the current talks represented the last chance for the foreseeable future for the parties to reach agreement on a new contract for hospital consultants.
He said that the independent chairman of the talks had made it clear that September 16th was a definitive deadline.
The Irish Hospital Consultants' Association said that a range of contract options were needed, while the Irish Medical Organisation forecast that the negotiations would be difficult and that it would not be possible to predict the chances of success until it saw the proposals which were tabled.
Issues over pay, private practice rights and hours of work are set to be the main items on the agenda for the negotiations.
At yesterday's talks the parties went over the various items in both plenary and group sessions.
It is understood that a report commissioned on the ratio of public to private practice for consultants, which it was expected would be discussed during the talks, will not now be ready in time.
Under proposals put forward by health service management, hospital consultants in the future would either have very restricted or no rights to treat private patients. They would also work as part of teams over an extended working day under the direction of a clinical director.
The HSE has also proposed that consultants would be rostered to work over weekends as part of their normal duties.
Health service management has proposed salaries of up to €205,000, with the possibility of an additional bonus of 20 per cent for consultants opting to take the new contract.
If there is no agreement on a new contract it is generally expected that the Government will press ahead unilaterally to appoint new consultants on revised terms and conditions.
The Government and the executive suspended a campaign to recruit 68 additional consultants on revised terms in order to facilitate the latest talks.