There was "a full and frank exchange" when the Minister for Health and Children, Mr Martin, met the Irish Medical Organisation last night over the threatened strike by Non-Consultant Hospital Doctors (NCHDs). Both sides said afterwards they would "reflect on what was said" and maintain contact over the next few days. This can be taken as diplomatic language for a recognition that the gap to be bridged remains wide.
It is understood the Minister made it clear to the IMO that they should enter talks ahead of any industrial action, while the union reiterated its need for the Health Service Employers' Agency to give specific responses to its claim, particularly on issues such as excessive hours and unpaid overtime.
Intensive efforts can now be expected to create an agenda that will allow the Labour Relations Commission to call the HSEA and IMO into substantive talks. The chief executive of the LRC, Mr Kieran Mulvey, met separately with the IMO and HSEA yesterday for exploratory discussions ahead of their meeting with Mr Martin. The IMO is threatening its first one-day strike on May 17th. It is taking action early because of its concern that outstanding grievances are addressed before July 1st, when many NCHDs will have to renew their contracts.
The HSEA has been urging the IMO to negotiate on the basis of a new shift system for NCHDs similar to that for nurses. It says a "fundamental review" of the system is needed rather than a quick fix. However, the IMO director on industrial relations, Mr Fintan Hourihan, argues that more immediate problems such as excessive overtime, staffing levels and adequate locum cover have to be resolved first.
Meanwhile, the general secretary of the Irish Nurses' Organisation, Mr Liam Doran, has expressed concern at the failure of some health boards to honour the settlement terms of the nurses' strike last October. This could lead to calls for renewed industrial action at the INO conference in Galway next week.
The most pressing grievance is the failure of some health boards to pay the new qualifications allowances for nurses. These are worth £1,500 a year, backdated to August 1998.