The IMO has called claims that consultants are not working enough weekend shifts in public hospitals a “fallacy”. In a statement today, the Organisation also highlighted what it called the “sustained shortfall” in doctors in the health system.
“The reality of this situation is that every weekend, consultants up and down the country are working on call, carrying out ward rounds, reviewing and discharging patients, and responding to emergencies,” said Prof Mick Molloy, Chair of the Consultants’ Committee of the IMO.
“This is in addition to working their core hours on a Monday to Friday. This work is critical to the functioning of our hospitals but is often absent from discussions about consultant availability and weekend working.”
The IMO said it was responding to media reports of a HSE briefing to Minister to Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, suggesting consultant weekend work in three regions of the country was still too low.
“Rostering consultants for core hours on a Saturday means that they must take another day off during the week or this additional work day to be classed as overtime which is not financially effective in the current constraints,” continued Prof Molloy.
“In order for weekend core hour rostering and extended day core hour rostering to be effective, a whole of hospital approach is required. Using a consultant’s core hours for an out patient clinic on a Saturday, rather than inpatient work on a Monday, is a poor use of resources.”
He noted that the Department of Health has stated that Ireland needs to have 110 consultants per 100,000 population. In terms of whole-time equivalents, Ireland is currently at 87.6 per 100,000, he added.
“In a situation where a consultant can have a full team, services and infrastructure available on a Monday, but not on a Saturday, it does not make sense to roster the consultant on a Saturday as there is less productivity. This is why hospitals are in some cases slower to roster consultants on a Saturday. The public-only consultants’ contract allows such rostering but there is no recognition of the additional staff required to make a comprehensive six-day health service a practical reality.”
He added: “The IMO supports any move that will facilitate better and more accessible care for patients throughout the week, but it is a fallacy to think this can happen without firstly having the correct numbers of consultant and healthcare staffing in place.”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.