A legal challenge by a hospital consultant to his being placed on "administrative leave" with full pay following a dispute over the length of bed stays for his patients at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, could not proceed at the High Court yesterday because no judge was available to hear it.
The action by Dr Colman Muldoon against the North Eastern Health Board will now be heard in October.
Dr Muldoon was placed on administrative leave by the NEHB last December, having worked at the hospital for almost 30 years. He failed last January to secure an interlocutory order reinstating him pending the determination of the case. Yesterday, Mr Frank Callanan SC, for Dr Muldoon, said the case was of considerable urgency for his client. Counsel said the dispute was essentially about the length of bed stay of Dr Muldoon's patients. He contended this was a matter for Dr Muldoon's clincial judgment. It was admitted the bed stays were at the upper end of the range but they were not excessive and were due to the proper exercise by Dr Muldoon of his clinical judgment.