THE Irish Medical Organisation has urged junior doctors to accept an £8.3 million pay deal. More than 1,400 non consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs) will be balloted on the proposals, which took two years to negotiate.
According to the IMO the proposed deal provides for an across the board salary increase of £1,200, payable in two stages for this group, irrespective of grade.
Dr Dermot Power, chairman of the IMO's NCHD committee, welcomed the proposals but said that issues related to training, manpower and working hours remain to be tackled in 1997 to "address the current haemorrhage of NCHD graduates from Irish medical schools out of the Irish health service".
He explained that under the PCW agreement, funding has also been made available for a mechanism to deal with unrostered overtime hours that are currently being worked by junior doctors.
He said this would assist in "identifying and addressing" the exact areas where this was happening.
"The IMO will continue, however, to lobby at both Government and EU level to have NCHDs included in Working Tame legislation which is due to be processed through Dail committee stage in the near future," said Dr Power.
Meanwhile a Fianna Fail spokesman on Labour Affairs yesterday described the exclusion of junior doctors from the Working Time Bill as "seriously flawed". "The reality is that many junior doctors are working unacceptably long hours," said Mr Tom Kitt TD.
He said he intended tabling a number of amendments to this legislation.
Under the NCHD agreement, funding has been made available by the Department of Health to assist with costs in postgraduate education and training. But Dr Power said the allocation, which worked out at £500 per NCHD, would not cover the average cost. A training contract for junior doctors was needed, said Dr Power.
No agreement has yet been reached on testing of NCHDs for hepatitis B and other infections diseases. A committee to investigate the transmission of infectious diseases in the health services, appointed by the Minister for Health, is due to report shortly.