Health Service Partners Must Address Doctor's Working Hours Immediately

13th April 2000 - It is an "embarrassment" that the initiative to reduce Doctors' working hours comes from a 1993 European Union Directive instead of the Irish Health Service partners, VHI Medical Director, Dr Bernadette Carr, told doctors attending the Irish Medical Organisation’s AGM in Killarney today (Thursday 13 April 2000).

"It would be a matter for collective shame on all our parts if anything up to a further nine years were to elapse before this issue is comprehensively addressed," Dr Carr told doctors attending the "Living and Working in the Twlight Zone - Hours Beyond the Call of Duty" session.

Dr Carr said that it was a great credit to doctors that despite the problems they faced on a daily basis they continued to provide high quality medical care to patients. "Irish doctors provide tremendous standards of care - but they are working under unfair pressures. It is a shame that the issues that concerned me and other doctors starting out as NCHDs ten years ago are still the same. It is time for all of those associated with the health services to address these issues," said Dr Carr who worked as a clinician and in medical research both in Ireland and the USA prior to joining VHI as Medical Director in 1995.

Recalling her own experiences as a Non-Consultant Hospital Doctor (NCHD), Dr Carr listed the similar issues that concern doctors practicing in Ireland today:

• Long working hours for NCHDs
• Inappropriate duties being carried out by NCHDs
• An imbalance between the number of NCHDs and the number of "end" posts
• GPs contractually obliged to provide 365 days per year 24 hours per day cover for medical card patients
• All doctors being expected to provide a full range of services up to age 65.

"The remarkable feature of the Irish Health Services is that despite these issues the individual quality of care provided is second to none. This however is a reflection on the dedication and the professionalism of the medical practitioner rather than the structures which ought to be in place to achieve the balance between a properly resourced and supported professional life and the delivery of a quality service," said Dr Carr.

"It should be a matter of embarrassment that the initiative for reducing working hours came from the European Union through the 1993 Directive, rather than through the collective will of all the partners in the Irish Health Services. This is something that needs to be addressed immediately," she said.

ENDS

For further information please contact...
Vhi Corporate Communications
7994078