PETER H. BOYLE,
Sir, - A few simple thoughts occurred to me on reading your coverage of the junior doctors's dispute.
I may be a little naïve and old-fashioned, but it seems preposterous to me to expect anyone, even a fit and active 29-year-old, to stitch bleeding heads, diagnose ailments and cure the sick for 77 hours a week (your data).I wouldn't like to have my cracked skull attended to by a doctor half asleep and aching with tiredness.
It also seems preposterous to me to pay €85,000 a year to a 29-year-old who is still in training (your data).
So, from the comfortable depths of my armchair, may I suggest a plain man's solution? First, why doesn't Mr Martin cut the hours worked by the junior doctors by half? Second, why doesn't he cut their salaries by half? (€42,500 isn't a bad salary for a 29-year-old!) Third, and most important, why doesn't he, with the money saved, double the number of doctors employed?
These measures would cost the same as at present, but in one stroke would eliminate the appalling delays in outpatient departments.
While the Minister is at it, let him also double the number of consultants and halve their salaries and fees, and we might at last approach a proper system of care for our sick and aged in hospitals. - Yours, etc.,
PETER H. BOYLE,
Terenure,
Dublin 6w.