THE chief executive of the Labour Relations Commission has called for a manpower committee review of junior hospital doctors' training and working conditions to be speeded up so that State-wide escalation of the current hospitals' dispute may be avoided, writes Colman Cassidy
The committee, charged with examining appropriate medical manpower levels in Irish hospitals, is not due to report before December.
However, last night Mr Kieran Mulvey, the LRC chief executive, said it would be "very useful" if it could publish its findings earlier.
He felt there was no reason the report could not be forthcoming given the current crisis.
Against the background of the failure by the health authorities and the Irish Medical Organisation to resolve their differences over the rostering of non-consultant hospital doctors, and continuing strike action at Waterford and Tullamore general hospitals, it was imperative that every effort be made to bring forward the report, Mr Mulvey said.
Last night, the LRC was "maintaining contact" with all parties involved, including the South Eastern and Midland health boards, the Health Services Employers' Agency and the IMO.
However, Mr Mulvey said there was no point in inviting the two sides back for further conciliation talks until they had something meaningful to say to each other.
When they had finished "exchanging verbiage" on the public airwaves it would perhaps be possible to "put ideas" to both sides that might help resolve the impasse. In the meantime the LRC would remain on stand-by.
He said the LRC on its own could not resolve the doctors' dispute. It needed all the help it could get. The two sides needed to come together directly - or the commission would continue to be available. But the parameters within which the commission operated had to be recognised.
"Everyone expects the LRC to be able to pull the fat out of the fire in one day against all the odds but that is unreasonable." It did not have the luxury of time on its side like other agencies charged with reviewing particular situations and given a year or more to deliver their findings.
Earlier, the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, told RTÉ he had no intention of "undermining" the existing industrial relations machinery in an attempt to end the dispute.
"We have a sophisticated industrial relations machinery in this country which has been refined over the years. It's within that context that issues such as this have to be resolved."
There would be no "unilateral" undermining of the machinery and no intervention that would override the existing negotiating framework for resolution of disputes.
The IMO had a long-cherished goal of achieving training targets for junior doctors based on a 39-hour working week, Mr Mulvey told Morning Ireland - with the training element catered for through higher numbers of consultants in hospitals. And they now seemed determined to achieve it. "I don't think that can be achieved at one fell stroke."
It would need a gradual approach and a willingness to recognise the resources available to hospitals and the need for hospital managers to manage.
The reality was that patients, "our mothers, sisters and brothers", were suffering because of the current action, said the LRC chief. "We just can't sit back and allow this to escalate. There has to be a compromise on this."