D-Day for University Hospital Limerick to pay doctors on brink of strike action

IT IS D-Day this Thursday for University Hospital Limerick to pay “frustrated” doctors for unrostered overtime work, or else strike action could be imminent. 

On February 6, non-consultant hospital doctors and interns in the Irish Medical Organisation voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action over non-payment of unrostered overtime. 

And since this decision was made, the UL Hospitals Group has kept silent on the matter despite numerous requests from the Limerick Leader for comment. 

This IMO dispute has been ongoing for a number of months, but has been a general issue since as early as January 2016 when they voted in favour of industrial action. 

“At that time the hospital management agreed to pay overtime due and to reform and improve its processes so that underpayments for unrostered overtime would not continue into the future,” a spokesperson said on February 6. 

The IMO added: “It is regrettable that the regime in University Hospital Limerick has forced NCHDs to resort to the threat of industrial action for payment of hours they have worked in service of patient care. However, the legitimate frustration among these doctors has now reached a critical point.”

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