The two sides in the hospital rosters dispute remained deadlocked last night, despite attempts by the Minister for Health to encourage a resumption of talks. As a strike by junior doctors continued at both Tullamore General and Waterford Regional hospitals, Mr Martin urged both sides to return to the table, writes Frank McNally.
His intervention came less than 24 hours after the breakdown of negotiations at the Labour Relations Commission, and after the LRC chief executive, Mr Kieran Mulvey, described the positions of the two sides as diametrically opposed.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland yesterday, Mr Mulvey said representatives of management and doctors were "so far apart at some stages I wondered if they worked in the same hospitals".
Last night he added that while he was "maintaining contact" with the parties, there was no point inviting them to renewed talks until they stopped "exchanging verbiage" on the public airwaves and had something meaningful to say to each other.
But condemning the Irish Medical Organisation's industrial action as unjustifiable and "disproportionate to the issues at play," Mr Martin urged its immediate suspension and called for a return to the LRC by all parties.
The Minister said he had been "shocked" by the action, especially in the light of an agreement on working hours reached two years ago with the IMO, which had since cost €200 million in overtime. In any renewed talks, there would be flexibility on all sides, he suggested. But alluding to the IMO principle that its core working hours are 9 a.m.- 5 p.m. Monday to Thursday and 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. Friday, he said it was his view, "and always has been, that the health service is a 24-hour, seven-day a week service".
He also rejected IMO claims that new rosters should not have been introduced until the National Task Force on Medical Staffing issued its report in December. The task force was not an industrial relations body, he said, and it had been understood by all that the work on reducing junior doctors' hours would begin in July and continue "in parallel" with the staffing survey.
However, the task force report has been identified by Mr Mulvey as crucial to any resolution. He said it would be "very useful" if the document could be finalised much earlier than December, adding that he could see no reason why it should not be expedited. Mr Martin indicated that the Health Service Employers' Association - which did not attend talks at the LRC - would be available for resumed negotiations.
A HSEA spokesman confirmed this but criticised the IMO for setting "preconditions" to renewed negotiations by insisting on the suspension of new rosters first.
The strike at Waterford Regional Hospital forced the postponement of 21 elective surgical procedures and 164 outpatient appointments yesterday alone, while Tullamore General said it would cancel 400 outpatient appointments and 123 elective surgeries this week.