Consultants may boycott Harney plan

Hospital consultants have signalled that they may refuse to co-operate with the Government's plans to develop new co-located private hospitals on the grounds of public institutions if the row over the introduction of a new contract for medical specialists escalates.

Talks on a new contract for hospital consultants - one of the key elements of the Government's overall healthcare reforms - are on the brink of collapse.

The independent chairman of the negotiations is expected to set out in the next week or so whether he believes if there is any point continuing with the process.

Minister for Health Mary Harney has signalled that she would move to introduce unilaterally a revised contract for new consultants if the talks do not succeed.

However in a new development, the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association (IHCA) has now indicated that it will consider a boycott of the new private hospital development plan if the contract row escalates.

Ms Harney is seeking to transfer about 1,000 beds for fee-paying patients, which are currently in public hospitals, to new facilities to be developed by the private sector on nearby land which would be leased from the State.

It is expected that under the Government plans, hospital consultants whose contract allows them to see fee-paying patients in public hospitals - so-called category I contract holders - will be permitted to work in the new co-located private facilities.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) has recently completed a process of shortlisting potential private sector bidders to develop the planned private hospitals. A tender process is expected to commence shortly and the HSE envisages awarding contracts in the first quarter of next year.

It is understood that some potential developers have sought official clarification as to whether existing public hospital consultants will be allowed to work in the new facilities.

Informed sources said the HSE told developers the issue of new contractual arrangements with consultants would be sorted out by February.

However the IHCA said yesterday the HSE should not presume that consultants will co-operate with the project.

If such a boycott were to proceed, consultants in public hospitals would not admit patients to the new private hospital wings on public campuses. These new private hospitals are unlikely to come on stream for at least two years so any boycott would not have any immediate effect on patients. However, such a move could cause uncertainty among developers and their financial backers in the run-up to the tender process for the new private hospitals.

IHCA secretary general Finbarr Fitzpatrick said last night the association would be holding an extraordinary general meeting on January 28th.

He said if negotiations on the new contract had fallen through by that stage, it was likely that consultants would consider not co-operating with the new co-located private hospitals.

Talks on the new contract for hospital consultants have been deadlocked for some time, largely in a row over whether the HSE should again begin approving a category of posts which would allow doctors to treat fee-paying patients in private hospitals.

The independent chairman of the talks, barrister Mark Connaughton, said earlier last month that there was no point in continuing discussions in their current form if the parties adhered to their rigid positions.