THE LABOUR Court has recommended that the core working day for around 4,000 non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs) should be extended.
The new hours would be 8am to 9pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 7pm at weekends.
In a recommendation issued last night, the Labour Court also found that health service management should be able to roster NCHDs to work on any five days over a seven-day period from next month.
At present the core week for non-consultant hospital doctors runs from 9am – 5pm Monday to Friday with overtime rates applying for work carried out outside of this period.
The new proposals could, if implemented, save the HSE millions in overtime payments.
Under the new proposals, the length of the doctors’ core working day would remain the same, although this could run later in the evening or earlier in the morning within the new time spans set out by the court.
The hearing was aimed at allowing the health service to comply with the provisions of the European Working Time directive, which limits the number of hours non-consultant doctors can work each week.
The HSE last night described the recommendation as “a very significant step forward” for the health service”.
In its finding, the court said the national social partnership agreement, Towards 2016, provided for “a change to existing work patterns in the health service to meet the need to maximise usage of facilities and delivery of services outside of traditional patterns”.
“The court accepts the HSE’s requirement to provide hospital services in a structured way seven-days per week, 24-hours per day, and accordingly recommends that NCHDs should undertake to operate 5-7 day working with effect from July 1st, 2009,” the Labour Court said.
The court said the HSE had sought to have the core working hours per day run from 7am to 10pm Monday to Friday, while the Irish Medical Organisation, which represents the doctors, had argued that these should apply from 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday.
“Having considered the position, the court recommends that the core working hours should run from 8am to 9pm Monday to Friday and from 8am to 7pm at weekends,” the recommendation stated.
The court also recommends that the minimum length of a shift for NCHDs should be six hours during the week and five hours at the weekend.
The Irish Medical Organisation could not be contacted last night.