'Worrying' that only 600 expressed interest in new HSE consultant ...

Dr Matt Sadlier, chairman of the Consultant Committee of the Irish Medical Organisation, has said that it was “worrying” that only 600 people had expressed an interest in signing up to the new consultant contract with the HSE.

The level of interest “hasn’t been great” he told RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show.

“If they want to increase the interest, they're going to have to show people who are working at weekends what the extended working week is going to be like, how many weekends will they be expected to work and for how long? What other staff will be working at the same time, what the hospital will look like?

"There's no point just getting consultants to work seven days of the week if you're not going to have all the ancillary staff, the health and social care professionals, increase the nursing staff in the hospital and increase the facilities that are open at the weekends as well.”

Dr Sadlier acknowledged that the hospital system could be more productive if people worked a seven-day roster. But to do that would require more staff and more resources.

We've no ideological problem with moving to a seven over seven if it is done correctly.

“Nobody goes into medicine thinking that they're not going to be working seven days a week. We all know that people get sick every day of the week. But it is how you structure that within the system. And yes, our system has been structured on a five over seven basis, but to move from five over to seven to seven over seven will require a number of changes, not only just the staffing levels, but also how the system runs and operates in Ireland.

“We've no ideological problem with moving to a seven over seven if it is done correctly,” he said.

On the same programme consultant Ronan Collins agreed there was no problem with the concept of a seven-day roster. The issue was if the necessary ancillary staff would also be present such as radiographers and community care.

Having consultants work a seven-day roster would not necessarily make a difference, he warned.

“All branches of the health service have to be working seven over seven.”

Dr Collins said there were some changes that could be implemented that would improve the system and encourage junior doctors to remain in the system, such as the fact that every time a junior doctor switches post they are put back on emergency tax. That was an issue that should have been “cracked” by the health service before now.

Dr Sadlier said that sensationalising the issue would not help. There was no resistance to the concept of the seven-day roster that needed to be “broken”. He cautioned that anyone signing the new contract would fear that they would be the only person working weekends.

“If a doctor transfers onto the new contract, they should have some sort of a letter from their management to say, you will not be the only person who'll be working every Saturday while your six or seven colleagues who haven't signed a new contract are working a Monday to Friday pattern. And I suppose that is what we will be looking for.”

Dr Collins said if he was a young consultant working in Australia he would think long and hard before returning to work in Ireland given the difference in conditions.

‘Our hospitals are not fit for purpose.”

Dr Collins also expressed concern at the standard of facilities for the growing older population. While the new children’s hospital was very welcome and long overdue, the majority of throughput through the hospital system was adults and increasingly older adults.