Hospital consultants are threatening industrial action after rejecting a draft contract which would have offered some doctors yearly pay rises of up to £13,000. At the hospital consultants' a.g.m. members signalled they were ready to take action which would disrupt the health services if further negotiations failed to secure agreement.
But the Irish Hospital Consultants Association will contact the Department of Health on Wednesday to communicate their interest in recommencing negotiations. Dr Peter Kelly, IHCA spokesman, said the pay increases for consultants were at the cost of major reductions in allowances and changes in working conditions.
It is believed the Department is open to further talks on the proposed contract, which is largely based on the report of the Buckley Committee on Higher Remuneration in the Public Service. It is believed that agreement can be reached. The estimated cost of the pay deal to the Department is £13 million, to be divided between about 1,000 consultants.
Under the terms of the contract, consultants' salaries would range from £62,000 to £76,000 annually. But the IHCA argues that there is a corresponding curtailment, or in some cases abolition, of allowances paid for being on call and called out after hours. Dr Kelly said the average increase for consultants in the proposed deal was £6,000 annually.
A major contention is a proposal that there would be no payment for the first 30 calls annually for consultants called into the hospital out of hours. Proposals to limit rest days, paid time off after being on call, also drew an angry response.
"We do want to go back into talks and clear up the outstanding issues in a pragmatic way. The issues are important to us as a principle but they are not issues that will cost a lot of money," said Dr Kelly.
Consultants "felt very strongly" about the proposed contract and several forms of sanction were discussed. This action, he said, would be directed at the management structures of the health services, rather than at patients. It would involve withdrawal from hospital committees dealing with issues such as budgets and the purchase of new equipment.