On average, an intern spends 40 hours at unpaid work during induction — IMO

Not paying intern doctors for their induction week is “simply unacceptable”, the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has said.

A recent IMO survey revealed that, on average, an intern spends 40 hours at work during induction, but this time is unpaid, despite that fact interns could be required to provide clinical services as well as attend training courses over the course of the week.

In a letter to the Health Service Executive’s (HSE’s) Human Resources, the IMO’s Director of Industrial Relations, Anthony Owens, said the doctors’ union understood fully the need for a “comprehensive induction process” and was supportive of a “realistic and standardised process in this regard”.

But he said this should not mean that intern doctors were not paid for the services they provided during their first week of employment, which, he said, was at the behest of their employer and formed part of their employment contract. “I am unaware that any other group of health service staff would be expected to make a similar commitment without remuneration,” he wrote.

Owens also revealed that the union was now speaking to its intern members about “their options in this matter, both individually and collectively”.

“I suspect that were any other group put in this position, the response would be both swift and negative,” he wrote.

In the letter, dated August 23, he told the HSE: “I write to you regarding the group of intern doctors that commenced employment in July (last month).

“As you will know, it is the firmly held position of the IMO that these doctors must be remunerated for the quantum of work and time that they deliver during their intern induction week.”

Owens added that not paying interns for their induction created a very poor impression of Ireland’s public health service and this could explain why the HSE was finding it hard to retain the services of non-consultant hospital doctors.

peter.doyle@imt.ie