Health Minister says dispute between CareDoc and HSE resolved but further strike action possible

LAST UPDATE | 1 hr ago

HEALTH MINISTER JENNIFER Carroll MacNeill has said that a pay dispute between the HSE and out-of-hours GP service CareDoc has been resolved.

Carroll MacNeill said this should allow CareDoc to “make appropriate remuneration payments that will result in the end of the current industrial action”.

However, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has said further strike action is possible. 

INMO and SIPTU members employed at Caredoc in the south-east undertook industrial action yesterday in the form of a 24-hour strike from 8am.

While not impacted by yesterday’s strike action, CareDoc also has clinics in the north-west and counties Wicklow and Cavan.

The INMO said it received a formal offer from CareDoc seeking to resolve the dispute late last night. 

The dispute centres around an 8% increase that both unions said was part of a Workplace Relations Commission agreement that was secured in 2023 but never implemented.

Following consultation with its members, the INMO said a decision was made to suspend strike action at midnight.

However, a spokesperson said no decision has been made on planned strike days for the next two weeks. 

There are plans for further 24-hour strikes on 23 and 27 December, a 48-hour strike from 29 December, and a 24-hour strike on 2 January.

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The INMO said it has sought a meeting with CareDoc management this morning to “discuss the offer in greater detail and seek clarification on certain points”.

“We will then be in a position to ballot members on the proposal,” added the spokesperson. 

The INMO meanwhile has said neither it nor Siptu were party to discussions between the HSE and CareDoc.

In a statement yesterday, CareDoc blamed the HSE for the dispute and said it had left a €3.2 million gap in funding required for the service.

It called the HSE’s allocation of €647,000 earlier this year a “derisory” offer.

“Monies previously offered to Caredoc by the HSE were returned to them as it amounted to a partial payment for just one service in one area (the south east out of hours GP service) and would not have met pay requirements across the organisation as a whole, and were considered derisory,” a spokesperson for Caredoc told The Journal yesterday.

However, the HSE said it had “fully honoured” their commitments by allocating €647,000 to Caredoc South‑East and added that the industrial action was “unnecessary and premature given that the HSE is actively working to resolve the matter”.

In a statement last night, Carroll MacNeill said she had been advised by HSE CEO Bernard Gloster that the dispute between Caredoc and the HSE had been resolved by agreement. 

She said this should “create the conditions for Caredoc as employer to respond positively to the concerns of their staff and make appropriate remuneration payments that will result in the end of the current industrial action”. 

“I also want to recognise the hard work and dedication of these front line staff,” added Carroll MacNeill, “and I hope we will now see a speedy return to normal service in what is an exceptionally busy time for our health services.”

CareDoc requested that the INMO and Siptu unions “seek an immediate return to work in the interests of patient safety” following the agreement between it and the HSE.

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