MEMBERS OF the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association (IHCA) have voted by a large majority to accept the terms of a revised contract of employment put forward for hospital consultants by health service management, writes Eithne Donnellan.
Their ballot, when counted last evening, showed 80 per cent of those who voted were in favour of accepting the new working conditions. The new contracts will see consultants rostered to work in teams over an extended 37-hour week, a longer working weekday from 8am to 8pm, and for five hours on Saturdays and Sundays. There will also be strict monitoring of private practice.
The acceptance of the new contract after four years of negotiation by members of the IHCA, which represents the majority of consultants in the State, was welcomed last night by Minister for Health Mary Harney and the HSE.
The IHCA had recommended acceptance of the new contract by its members when it posted out ballot papers. Some 69 per cent of members eligible to vote cast their ballots. A total of 1,018 (80 per cent) members voted to accept the revised contract and 261 (20 per cent) voted to reject it.
The Irish Medical Organisation, also representing hospital consultants, is balloting its members, but has not made any recommendation on the new deal. The outcome will be known on June 3rd.
The medical board at Dublin's Mater hospital advised its consultant staff to reject the deal. AE consultants across the State also planned to reject the new working conditions.
Ms Harney said the new consultants' contract paves the way for significant changes to improve services for patients.
"This is the largest redesign of the consultants' contract for 30 years. After years of negotiation, it is vital now that this contract is implemented progressively and quickly from September 1st across our health services and that patients see the benefits in tangible ways," she said.
"The contract is designed to meet the needs of a modernised health service, working seven days a week . . . it means that patients should be seen faster by a senior doctor, admitted faster if necessary, and discharged faster."
Prof Brendan Drumm, CEO of the HSE, said the main beneficiaries would be patients who use public health services.
Three types of new contract will be on offer to consultants. Those who work with public patients only will earn a basic salary of €240,000 a year. There will be a contract for those who opt to engage in limited private practice on the public hospital campus or in co-located hospitals, and a third will allow doctors in the public system to treat patients outside the public hospital campus.