Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There are a few changes I would make and we will be talking to the NCHDs and their representative bodies about them. The idea that they can be moved to any part of the country, with very little notice, sometimes relocating with their partners and children every year for ten years, is simply not acceptable. It is not acceptable for us to ask that of them. I am also very uncomfortable with some of the reports on working hours. We have European Union working time directives in place and they need to be followed. There may be some exemptions available but the directives need to be followed.

It is an issue of giving non-consultant hospital doctors a bit of stability in their lives and allowing them to do more than just be in a hospital working and training for 60, 70 or 80 hours per week. That is not a reasonable ask, particularly in the modern world. I also want to see a gender analysis done. Many women go in to train as non-consultant hospital doctors and the conversion rate to specialists should be maintained but it is not being maintained. It is in some specialties but, on average, across the consultant population it is not. The first thing I want to do is to listen carefully to the doctors themselves.