Vol. 519 No. 6
35 Mr. Barrett asked the Minister for Health and Children if his attention has been drawn to the fact that a non-consultant hospital doctor was forced to initiate procedures before the Labour Relations Commission against St. Vincent's Hospital due to the hospitals failure to pay his outstanding salary; his views on whether a doctor should be placed in such a position; and the action he will take to ensure no such incident occurs again. [13356/00]
143 Mr. Shatter asked the Minister for Health and Children if his attention has been drawn to the fact that a non-consultant hospital doctor was forced to initiate procedures before the Labour Relations Commission against St. Vincent's Hospital due to the hospital's failure to pay his outstanding salary; his views on whether a doctor should be placed in such a position; and the action he will take to ensure no such incident occurs again. [14399/00]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 35 and 143 together.
Difficulties have arisen for health service employers and non-consultant hospital doctors in implementing the 1997 contract. In the case of St. Vincent's Hospital the difficulty referred to was not in relation to the payment of salary but related to an appropriate level of remuneration for providing on-call cover. Both sides agreed to third party mediation and the recommendations issued by the arbitrator settled the dispute.
