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12th February National Circular available for members in Newsletter section

      85% of Hospital Consultants Support Industrial Action in Historic Vote  Wednesday, 11th of February: Members of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) have voted by an overwhelming majority in favour of industrial action. The 85% vote in support will see a curtailment of consultant work schedules in hospitals from Monday next. This is the first time the organisation, which represents 1450 consultants, has ever voted for industrial action. Under the plan of action, from Monday next ( Feb.16th ), work for the National Treatment Purchase Fund will be suspended in hospitals. The final phase of action will begin on Monday the 23rd of February, when emergency services only will be undertaken by consultants in Hospitals. Over 70% of admission cases are emergencies; in this context, continuing care and care of urgent patients will be provided as normal.  The dispute centres on the Department of Health & Children’s failure to reach agreement to safeguard insurance cover for both patients and obstetricians. The failure to resolve this issue means that patients seeking to take a case against consultants for procedures undertaken in the past are unlikely to receive  full financial settlement and consultants involved in such claims could face financial ruin.   Dr Colm Quigley, President of the IHCA, commenting on the results of the ballot said: “ The 85% support for the vote and the exceptionally high response rate, indicate how concerned consultants are.

Consultants in General Hospitals not being Consultant Psychiatrists - 2 VacanciesCandidates:Blunnie, William (Mater Hospital)Cunningham, Anthony (Beaumont Hospital)Egan, Jim (Mater Hospital)Healy, Brendan (Sligo General Hospital)Lennon, Finbarr (Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital ,Drogheda)Maha Lingam, K (Cork University Hospital)Manning, Patrick (Bon Secours Hospital, Glasnevin)McGuinness, Eamonn (St James"s & Coombe Hospitals)McMurray, Noel (Cavan General Hospital)Pidgeon, Christopher (Beaumont Hospital)Quigley, Colm (Wexford General Hospital)Sugrue, Declan (Mater Hospital)Warde, Barry (Portlaoise General Hospital)Consultant Psychiatrist - 1 VacancyCandidate:Corrigan, Geraldine ( Letterkenny General Hospital) Please consider these candidates when exercising your ballot

See Press Release rejecting the Minister"s accusations on the Cavan Hospital Inquiry

  STATEMENT ON CAVAN HOSPITAL INQUIRYThe IHCA categorically rejects the suggestion by the Minister for Health & Children, Micheal Martin, that the Association was unwilling to submit a list of names of nominees to act on his committee.The failure of the Minister to satisfactorily establish his committee can be found in the hamfisted way in which the Department set about the task. It failed to· make appropriate arrangements for locum cover so that patients would not be disadvantaged· ensure that everybody sitting on the Committee would be indemnified against any possible legal action· provide detailed terms of reference and rules under which the committee would operate.The IHCA submitted two lists of nominees which enabled the Minister make two furtive attempts to commence the process.The Department was advised last Friday that the Association, notwithstanding the many difficulties posed by the Department"s handling of the matter, would be in a position to submit four further names on last Monday, 2nd inst. Clarification on the Minister"s intentions was sought in light of High Court proceedings which were taken this week by one of the surgeons under investigation. No response has been received.It ill behoves this Minister to seek to distract attention from his own failings by blaming others.

02 February 2004Hospital Consultants Act to Ensure Patients Are ProtectedThe Minister for Health should meet the Medical Defence Union to ensure that no public or private patient is left uncovered for past medical negligence claims. The Minister’s very drastic decision to leave public and private patients uncovered has forced hospital consultants to take action to protect them.Until the Department of Health and The Medical Defence Union have an agreement to cover patients, hospital consultants will implement a phased campaign from Monday 2 February to withdraw from administrative services. If there is still no resolution by 23 February, Consultants will move to provide emergency services only from that date.See detailed plan of action below. Further InformationFinbarr Fitzpatrick086 246 9817  Stage 1 - Monday February 21. The IHCA will not participate in contract negotiations arising from the recently published reports on the health service.2. Members will not participate in the (Hanly Report) Implementation Groups in the Mid West and East Coast Area Health Boards.3.

The rates that will apply with effect from 1st February are availabale to members only in the Publications section of this website. Please log in to access

A delegation from the Association will meet with the Minister for Health & Children on Thursday, 29th January. The Association will seek, again, to help resolve the difficulty of historic liabilities between the Department and the MDU.

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National CircularEnterprise Liability Update The IHCA Enterprise Liability Committee has held joint meetings with the MDU and MPS on Thursday January 15 and Sunday January 25 in an effort to reach a common understanding on historic liabilities. The EL Committee has requested a meeting with the Minister for Health & Children, Mr. Micheal Martin TD, for (preferably) tomorrow Tuesday January 27 with historic liabilities as the single item on the agenda.At the time of writing, we are not confident of reaching an agreement on historic liabilities before Sunday February 1 next. Therefore, when members attend the Extraordinary General Meeting on Sunday next in the Berkeley Court Hotel at 2.00pm, among the decisions to be taken will be those on a Campaign of Action which will demonstrate to Minister Martin that he cannot break his word to consultants and that he cannot breach their contract with impunity.NoteMembers may have seen the reference in a recent Irish Times article where it was stated (non attributed) that the Department would impose a new contract on consultants should the need arise.There are a number of other matters regarding Enterprise Liability which require clarification / further negotiation. These cannot be addressed until the impasse on historic liabilities has been overcome.Updated estimates of the cost of membership of the MPS are expected in this office later this afternoon. While the MDU has promised similar statistics, we are not confident that they will arrive within the next 24 hours.A comprehensive circular on the Association’s understanding of Enterprise Liability together with estimates of membership subscriptions from the MPS, and the MDU if available, will be e-mailed / posted to members on Tuesday the 27th.Should anything of significance arise at our meeting with the Minister for Health, all members with e-mail addresses will be informed immediately. We look forward to a record attendance at our EGM on Sunday next at 2.00pm in the Berkeley Court Hotel. IHCA Extraordinary General MeetingSunday 1st February, 2004Berkeley Court Hotel2.00pm