Public health doctors are to strike for three days in January.
The country’s 91 Specialists of Public Health Medicine (SPHMs) are taking the action as part of their 17-year battle for consultant status and contracts.
The Irish Medical Organisation’s (IMO) Public Health Committee has decided to serve notice of industrial action on the HSE and the Department of Health, warning if there is no resolution to the issue, the following action will commence on Thursday, January 14th, followed by a two-day strike on Thursday 21 and Friday 22, January.
The committee says it will consider taking more action if matters remain unresolved.
Dr Ina Kelly, chair of the Public Health Committee of the IMO, said: “I am deeply distressed that it has come to this.
“It is time for the Government to recognise their own ethical obligations and to honour agreements.
We have had no meaningful engagement with the Department of Health in the last five months, no business plan has been discussed with us, no new contract agreed.
“We are in a worse situation today than we were a year ago.”
The four-page contract they sign gives SPHMs – in effect – the same status as an admin secretary.
Despite this, in playing the lead role investigating and controlling notifiable infectious diseases and outbreaks, they have led Ireland’s response to Covid-19.
Consultant status and contracts were part of a pay and productivity agreement in 2019.
It was made between the IMO, the Department of Health and the HSE to avert strike action in 2019 and was due to be fully implemented by July 2020.
Much of the increased productivity aspect of the agreement was fast-tracked due to the Covid-19 crisis.
However, despite SPHMs taking on a lot of extra work ahead of schedule, they did not get the extra pay or contracts.
Public health doctors earn a set €116,000 a year, while consultants earn between €143,000 and €199,000 on a nine-point incremental scale.
Public Health Doctors confirm plans for 3-days of strike action in January
Full Statement: https://t.co/iw9Z2Zjv6V
— Irish Medical Organisation (@IMO_IRL) November 30, 2020
