Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)

The Health Service Executive received notice on 22 February from the trade union IMPACT of its intention to intensify its members' industrial action with effect from Monday, 1 March. The HSE was informed that, in addition to their existing actions, IMPACT members would refuse to take on work in regard to any vacancy, not just those vacancies that have arisen since the general industrial action commenced on 25 January 2010; refuse to participate in all work relating to the HSE's reconfiguration programme; refuse to deal with all political representations, including parliamentary questions and freedom of information requests; and refuse to answer telephones, including mobile telephones, for specified periods of time, to be advised by the union, with little advance notice to management. This will apply unless a specific derogation for emergency cover has been agreed with the union.

Clearly, health service employers are very concerned about the potential impact of this intensification of the industrial action on services and patient safety. I share this concern. I assure the Deputy that the situation is being monitored on a daily basis by the HSE and my Department. It is a matter of great regret to me to see patients and the public inconvenienced in this way. There is no doubt that following a period of rapid increases in funding, health services are now facing the challenge of managing within much tighter resource constraints. There is scope within our health system, by reforming how services are delivered, to achieve more through greater efficiency and concentrating on services that contribute most to people's health and well-being. There is an onus on all concerned - Government, management, trade unions and employees – to find a way of engaging in the reforms that are needed to deliver better services to patients.

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