A half-day's work, and how it is classified, is at the centre of the three-day strike by junior doctors at the Midland Regional Hospital in Tullamore, which began yesterday. Chris Dooley reports.
Until recently non-consultant doctors at the hospital worked a core five-day week between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., from Monday to Friday. The remainder of their work was overtime.
New rosters introduced by management from July 1st require them to work a half-day outside those hours as part of their normal working week. The remaining 4½ days would continue to be worked on weekdays, between nine and five.
Is that sufficient reason to go on strike? Emphatically so, said the young doctors who were on picket-line duty yesterday for the first time in their careers. For them, the issues are much more deep-rooted than they might appear.
Dr Katharine Ormond, who is training to be a general practitioner, said the potential loss of training time was a critical concern.
"The basic hours, nine-to-five Monday to Thursday and nine-to-four on Friday, are when we get most of our training and the wards are busiest." Having worked 138 hours last week, she welcomes moves to reduce doctors' working hours.
"If the rosters are changed you're rostering people off in the busiest hours of the day.
"I apologise to anyone who has suffered discomfort as a result, but I promise you we are doing it with a view to being better doctors, and in the long term patients will be much better off," she added.
Dr Ali Loubani, a senior house officer in the orthopaedics department and representative of the doctors' union, the Irish Medical Organisation, said the new rosters had been imposed unilaterally and without consultation.
This was denied by the hospital manager, Mr Peter Waters, who said the rosters had been agreed with staff after lengthy negotiations. It was only afterwards that the IMO had contacted management to express its opposition, he said.
In any event, Mr Waters said, the rosters were merely formalising established custom and practice, as doctors had always taken a half-day off on the day after they had been on 24-hour duty.
This was good practice as it provided doctors with rest when it was most needed. Four extra doctors had been taken on as a result of the new rosters, so patient care had not been compromised. Training standards were also being protected, he said, and medical schools had no problem with the new regime.
The first-day effects of the strike were limited for patients already in the hospital yesterday, due to the "very good co-operation" provided by the doctors on strike, Mr Waters said. "Our patients are being looked after and doctors are responding to any requests made by nursing staff. They have been excellent and we would like to acknowledge that." For those with appointments to attend the hospital, however, it is a different story. More than 400 out-patient and 116 in-patient appointments have had to be deferred this week because of the strike.