A non-consultant hospital doctor has succeeded in being elected to a health authority.
Dr Mick Molloy, a 29-year-old registrar at the Accident and Emergency Department of St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin, has been elected to the new Eastern Regional Health Authority. He takes one of 13 seats on the authority set aside for professionals including doctors, nurses, dentists and pharmacists.
The Eastern Regional Health Authority replaces the Eastern Health Board from March 1st next. It will continue to oversee the administration of health services in Cos Dublin, Wicklow and Kildare, a region with a population of 1.3 million people.
Two other non-consultant hospital doctors, Dr David Honan, a senior registrar at St Vincent's Hospital, and Dr Ronan Collins, a registrar at the Adelaide and Meath Hospital, failed in their bids to get elected.
Dr Molloy (29) from Gorey, Co Wexford, has pledged to fight for shorter working hours for non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs) and said he would also seek to ensure funding for training posts for junior doctors.
"The whole issue of out-of-hours delivery of services within hospitals also needs to be debated. Some hospitals are overstretched at night, and we need an adequate amount of stepdown facilities to free up beds in hospitals," he said.
Despite a decision by the European Parliament on Monday to back shorter working hours for NCHDs - they voted for a maximum 54-hour week for the doctors - Dr Molloy said it could be six or seven years before the decision is implemented. "NCHDs will still be working excessive hours for several more years to the detriment of the general population," he said.
Dr Molloy, chairman of the Irish Medical Organisation's NCHD committee, said he was disappointed that his two colleagues had not been elected because they could have given junior doctors a stronger voice.
Also elected were: Dr Siobhan Barry, consultant psychiatrist, St John of God, Stillorgan; Dr John Fennell, consultant physician, St Columcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown; four Dublin GPs, Dr Philip O'Connell, Dr Maurice Gueret, Dr James Reilly and Dr Kieran Harkin; Dr Ray Hawkins, GP, Bray; Dr Marie Laffoy, EHB public health specialist; Ms Maria Hoban, registered nurse, Naas General Hospital; Mr Gerry McGuire, psychiatric nurse, St Ita's Hospital, Portrane, Dublin; Mr Bernard Murphy, principal dental surgeon, EHB; and a Dublin pharmacist, Ms Noeleen Harvey.