Paid lunch hour for doctors costs €38m

Martin Frawley

The one-hour paid lunch break enjoyed by Ireland's 4,800 junior doctors costs €38m a year, a HSE spokesman said this weekend.

Last week, junior doctors – members of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) – voted 99% in favour of industrial action should the HSE proceed with more than €100m in pay cuts, including the withdrawal of the paid lunch break.

The HSE claim junior doctors are the only health workers who enjoy a paid lunch break. But the IMO argues that all junior doctors work through their lunch break, examining patients' charts and case files while they eat.

The lunch allowance is one of several areas being targeted by the HSE as part of its effort to cut at least €100m off the junior doctors' total paybill of €540m.

It also wants to end the €65 per week living-out allowance introduced in the 1970s, when hospitals required doctors to live closeby in case they are needed urgently. The HSE claims it is outdated.

The HSE is also looking to alter payment of the annual training grant worth €3,800 for each junior doctor. These grants can be rolled over for up to three years so doctors can claim more than €11,000.

Although around half of the 4,800 doctors are not in training posts, the HSE says all doctors claim the allowance.

The HSE also wants to cut back on the mounting overtime bill for junior doctors, which has soared to €240m, around €50,000 per doctor.

March 1, 2009

Comments

#1 Oliver commented, on March 3, 2009 at 12:27 a.m.:

Was this article written by the same HSE bosses who get 350,000 for a 40 hour week? I challenge your papers journalist to try the week of an NCHD - see how you feel after a 36 hour shift with 1 hour sleep. I get €70,000/annum (includes overtime) for average 80 hours a week. My accountant friend gets almost that for 40. A brick layer gets 3 times my basic salary. The state will not train enough doctors and so we are forced to do huge hours. All NCHD doctors are training and learning on the job - the grant can only be used for training/education.

#2 Meg commented, on March 3, 2009 at 11:15 a.m.:

There is an error in your article. An hour lunch break is not enjoyed by junior doctors. As they are not covered during this period they are answering bleeps and responding to calls to see patients during their breaks. And most days the break is nowhere near an hour.

#3 John commented, on March 3, 2009 at 4:49 p.m.:

Why does no journalist investigate the HSE’s failure to get rid of any of the layers of administrative staff since the health boards were amalgamated? Why is no journalist interested in investigating why Prof. Drumm thinks a return to the old health board system may be on the cards?
Instead, we have propagandists who are delivering the HSE propaganda to soften up NCHD doctors so that we are prepared to do overtime for much the same pay as our basic wages. Of course, the HSE say they will regret it if patient care suffers. The best thing that the HAS mandarins could do to ensure patient care does no suffer is to fire unnecessary administrative staff, fire any unnecessary NCHD doctors they can find, tell the nurses that they too will have to do mandatory overtime instead of voluntary overtime (which they can pick and choose to suit their tax situation as opposed to suiting patient needs) , install a proper automated blood sample delivery system so that 30% of porters can be let go, work to ensure that health-care is provided by the consultants and not merely by their registrars as happens for most public patients.

#4 Cormac Murphy commented, on March 4, 2009 at 12:23 p.m.:

What kinda red herring are we searching for here?? With all the corruption and waste everywhere, we are focusing in on how junior doctor get a paid hour for lunch??? Not news worthy! It's not even illegal! Maybe we should focus on the illegal corruption by FF and the likes first???

#5 Nina commented, on March 12, 2009 at 2:52 p.m.:

Unnecessary NCHDs???
There are not half enough as it is!
To implement these cutbacks in hours and have even moderately unsafe staffing levels-we need a whole bunch more NCHDs.
How Harney thinks she is going to reduce their numbers and still keep even one hospital open boggles my mind.
Like everything this Government does.

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