HEALTH SERVICE trade unions and management have reached a framework agreement for the introduction of an extended working day for new staff and for those being promoted.
The deal essentially allows for more flexible working over a day spanning from 8am to 8pm.It also allows for staff to be rostered to work for five out of seven days in some circumstances.
However, there will be no change to the basic number of hours worked each week by the personnel concerned.
Health service management sources told The Irish Timesthat while the new arrangements were for new employees or those in promotional posts, it was hoped that they might prove to be attractive for some existing personnel who would prefer more flexible working arrangements than the traditional nine-to-five model.
While the new framework agreement is eventually aimed at covering all new entrant and promotional non-consultant health grades, it will encompass radiographers/laboratory staff, community nurses, and therapy and social care grades initially.
It is expected to be extended to other areas such as administration and support grades at a later date.
If the new framework is accepted by union members in ballots, management hopes the new arrangements will come into place before the end of the year.
Health service management has been anxious to introduce a more flexible working week for some time.
However, it believed that the issue became more important following the agreement of a new contract with hospital consultants which provided for an extended working day running from 8am to 8pm and for some weekend work.
In the document presented to unions earlier this year, health service management said it wanted to move away from the traditional working day of 9am-5pm.
It said it was clear "that in certain situations, attendance patterns do not reflect value for money, nor indeed are they reflective of a service which operates on a 24/7 basis".
"Management is now seeking agreement to conduct a review of service delivery arrangements with a view to eliminating inefficient attendance arrangements and implementing attendance patterns which will assist improved operational performance and service provision," it said.
Health service management argued that there was provision in the national agreement, Towards 2016, to allow for the introduction of an extended working day for staff in the health sector.