HOSPITAL CONSULTANTS will take legal action against the Health Service Executive (HSE) if plans to withhold €68 million in pay increases they were due for the second half of this year proceed, it has emerged.
The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA), in a circular to members earlier this week and seen by The Irish Times, said it would assist any member wishing to take legal action to secure the money owed.
It has told members to write to the HSE saying if all their pay is not brought up to date by 5pm on January 29th they will refer the matter to their solicitor "with instructions to take the appropriate proceedings".
The €68 million is due to consultants who opted for new contracts in the latter half of this year. But Minister for Health Mary Harney has said it will not be paid because changed work practices envisaged in their new contracts - like working longer hours including weekends - are not yet obvious.
The threat of legal action will be a further headache for the HSE as it begins to draw up contingency plans to make savings of up to €400 million extra next year, bringing the total amount it will possibly have to save in 2009 to almost €1 billion.
Meanwhile, serious concern was expressed by patients groups, unions and political representatives yesterday at the amount of savings the HSE will have to make next year. The HSE already had to make savings of €280 million this year. These will have to be continued into next year and in addition €250 million in savings are outlined in its service plan for 2009.
On top of this the HSE said on Tuesday that €400 million in additional savings will have to be achieved next year if more people than planned for require medical cards and if plans to save money on a range of schemes, such as the €100 million in savings planned by cutting medical cards for the over 70s, do not materialise.
Janette Byrne of Patients Together said the cuts were coming on top of cuts to home support services this year.
The Irish Nurses Organisation, together with other health service unions has called for an immediate meeting with the Government to discuss the cuts. It said unions would again propose ways to make savings which would not impact on frontline services. These measures would include charging the full economic cost of the provision of private care and services, to private patients in public hospitals, which would yield an additional €113 million to the public health service, eliminating the cost of a range of HSE advisers which cost over €1 million a year, and transferring money from the National Treatment Purchase Fund to the HSE which could yield up to a further €100 million.
Liam Doran, general secretary of the INO, said the cuts currently tabled will have a very serious impact upon front line services.
Donal Duffy, assistant general secretary of the IHCA said he was shocked at the additional €400 million in possible HSE cuts. "You are talking about almost €1 billion out of a total allocation of about €15 billion. That is one hell of a cut to take."