The likelihood of a doctors' strike in the State's acute hospitals grew yesterday with an almost unanimous vote for industrial action in the junior doctors' dispute over rosters.
The ballot of more than 3,000 non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs) in the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) produced a 97 per cent vote in favour of industrial action up to and including strike action.
The rosters issue has already caused local disputes in Waterford Regional Hospital and at the Midland General Hospital in Tullamore. Those disputes, which disrupted appointments and surgery for as many as 1,000 patients, were suspended to allow talks to take place in the Labour Relations Commission (LRC).
The talks were convened twice this week and will resume on Monday. The LRC has estimated that it will take until mid-September for the talks to conclude. They involve the IMO, the Health Service Employers' Agency (HSEA) and the Department of Health and Children.
The dispute arises from attempts by health employers to change the basic working week of NCHDs so that part of it at least takes place outside normal daytime hours. The HSEA says this is necessary if the excessive overtime worked by doctors is to be reduced in line with an EU directive. The IMO says that NCHDs must be in the hospitals during the day, when demand from patients is highest and training opportunities are at their best. The HSEA says that the doctors want to protect their overtime payments.
The disputed rosters were suspended at Waterford and Tullamore to allow talks to take place.