The IMO is currently representing a number of Surgical Registrars who are in dispute with Louth County Hospital. The dispute is a result of management’s decision to unilaterally change rosters.

On July 1st Management at Louth County Hospital made unilateral changes to rosters which required registrars to work as 1st on call doctors for sixteen continuous hours rather than their contractually agreed 2nd on call roster.

The IMO informed management that these duties are habitually carried out by Senior House Officers and that it is unsafe and unrealistic to demand that these Registrars fill more than one role at any given time due to the hospitals failure to replace two SHO posts on 1st July 2008.

Once notified by the Registrars the IMO immediately intervened and met with hospital management. At this meeting management refused to negotiate and as such the issue remained unresolved. The IMO then referred the matter for an urgent Conciliation Hearing under the auspices of the Labour Relations Commission.
A hearing was held on July, 11th between both parties.
At this hearing the IMO succeeded in putting a halt to management’s implementation plans and the issue has now been referred back for local discussions. Further meetings are due to take place.