Vol. 492 No. 1
145 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children the reason junior hospital doctors in Cork and Kerry work one night in every three to four days, while in Dublin, junior hospital doctors work one night in every eight to ten days. [13583/98]
Non-consultant hospital doctors NCHDs can be rostered to work up to 65 hours per week following a Labour Court recommendation which was accepted by hospital management and representatives of NCHDs. It is the function of local hospital management to agree work rotas with NCHDs, taking into account the nature of the service to be provided. Accordingly, rotas more onerous than one night every eight to ten days are worked by NCHDs in Dublin and in other parts of the country, having regard to such factors as the specialty involved, the need to provide emergency cover and the liability to provide an on-call service.
