Doctors Strike Over 'Dangerous' Hours

For the first time in 25 years, Ireland’s junior doctors are staging a nationwide strike over what the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) calls their “dangerously long working hours.”

Around 3,000 doctors from 51 hospitals across the country are taking part in the day-long action, but emergency services and cancer treatment will not be affected.

Public hospitals are offering the level of service usually provided on a Sunday but 12,000 out-patient appointments have had to be rescheduled and 3,000 surgical procedures postponed to a later date.

Dr John Donnellan, chairman of the IMO's non-consultant hospital doctors’ committee, said: "Members are worried for the risks they pose to their patients and to themselves by current working conditions."

In a recent survey of work patterns, 85% of junior doctors (NCHDs) said they routinely work shifts of more than 24 hours.

The IMO wants an immediate end to shifts of that length and clarity on how the Health and Safety Executive will meet its commitment to ensure no doctor works longer than 48 hours a week by the end of next year.

The Irish Patients’ Association voiced support for the doctors’ cause but not for the "means to that end" and called for patients affected by the strike to be made a priority.

Chief Executive Stephen McMahon said: "We don’t want the patients affected today to become emergencies."

He welcomed the news that appointments and surgeries in private hospitals would go ahead as planned.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation also expressed support for the junior doctors although its members have been advised not to undertake the duties of those taking part in industrial action.

The IMO said proposals published by the Health Service Executive lacked credibility. Talks between them at the Labour Relations Commission have broken down, with the IMO refusing an invitation to go back.

With talk of the strike escalating to 48 hours next week, one cardiologist branded the action "morally reprehensible" and urged the junior doctors to find other ways to protest.

Professor Eoin O’Brien said no one could estimate how many of the patients affected will suffer what may be a fatal outcome as a result of their treatment being delayed.