Talks to settle mental health tribunals row end

Talks between health service management and medical organisations aimed at ending the row which has delayed the establishment of mental health tribunals ended inconclusively yesterday.

It is understood that the main issue outstanding between the parties is whether the Government will withdraw plans to withhold payment of a 1.5 per cent pay increase due to consultant psychiatrists.

The Government has withheld this payment, due under the terms of the Sustaining Progress agreement, to both serving and retired consultant psychiatrists as a result of what it maintained was the the failure of the medical organisations to co-operate with the establishment of the tribunals.

Mental health tribunals will review the cases of people detained involuntarily in psychiatric hospitals. There are up to 3,500 such cases in Ireland each year.

However, organisations representing hospital consultants have urged consultant psychiatrist members not to apply for posts on the tribunals as part of a row over the level of support to be provided.

The Department of Health and the Health Service Executive have offered to create about 18 additional consultant psychiatrist posts next year to provide back-up to doctors who are serving on or giving evidence before the new tribunals.

The director of industrial relations at the Irish Medical Organisation, Fintan Hourihan, said that "good progress" had been made on a number of issues at talks yesterday with health service management.

However, he said a sticking point remained over the threat to withhold the pay increase due to consultant psychiatrists.

Mr Hourihan said "the ball was back in the court of the Department of Health on whether or not it would withdraw the threat to the pay increase".

The current set of discussions would not be resolved or progressed further while the threat of non-payment of the increase remained, he added.

The secretary general of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association, Finbarr Fitzpatrick, said that other than for the issue of the pay increase, the row over the establishment of the mental health tribunals would be largely over.