Hospital consultants are expected to vote today for a campaign of industrial action that will cause further disruption in the health service, writes Eithne Donnellan, Health Correspondent.
Members of the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association (IHCA), which represents the majority of consultants in the State, have been balloted on a campaign of action over the past two weeks and when their ballots are counted today the result is expected to be overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action.
The action, due to begin on Monday week, will include consultants refusing to take part in hospital and national committees and no longer making themselves available for any meetings with HSE senior management. They will also refuse to do work which would normally be done by locums except in emergencies.
Their action is in response to a decision by Minister for Health Mary Harney and the HSE to advertise 68 new posts on terms which have not been agreed.
The decision to advertise the positions was taken during negotiations on a new consultants' contract between health service employers, the IHCA and the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO), which also represents consultants.
After the decision was taken the IHCA withdrew from the talks and it and the IMO say they will only return to negotiations if given a guarantee that none of the new consultants will be appointed other than on agreed terms.
Both associations have told their members not to co-operate with the recruitment of these new consultants and have advised junior doctors not to apply for them.
Independent chairman of the talks Mark Connaughton SC, has remained in contact with all sides since negotiations broke down but there is no sign of them resuming at this point.
Ms Harney said yesterday one had to be concerned that consultants were now planning to embark on a campaign of action. "If people put patients first these things wouldn't happen," she said.
"What we are doing is advertising for new consultants so that patients that are waiting a long time to get access to a consultant, that that can be changed. And we tried to have agreement with the consultants. That wasn't forthcoming."
Finbarr Fitzpatrick, secretary general of the IHCA, said the outcome of the ballot will be reviewed by the association's national council on May 19th and if it is in favour of industrial action this will begin on May 21st.
"We reject in the strongest possible terms any inference by the Minister that consultants or nurses or any of the other groups who work with patients on a daily basis have any other agenda other than putting patients first," he added.