Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Dáil Éireann: notes that:

— medical scientists carry out the same work as other scientist colleagues in hospital laboratories, but are paid on average eight per cent less, with fewer promotional opportunities and less support for training and education;

— pay parity with clinical biochemists was awarded in 2001 following the Report of the Expert Group on Medical Laboratory Technician/Technologist Grades and was agreed by the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Department of Health, however, this was lost due to an unintentional procedural effect of the 2002 benchmarking process;

— there is an ongoing and large national shortage of medical scientists across the public health service due to lesser pay and conditions, insufficient third-level places, poor career structure and limited promotional opportunities, and up to 20 per cent of medical scientist posts in hospitals are vacant;

— the Medical Laboratory Scientists Association (MLSA) warned against the Government's decision in 2006 to outsource testing to the United States, due to the different testing and screening protocols in place and the disconnect between the outsourced screening programme and the clinical services in Ireland for women subsequently diagnosed with cervical cancer, and concern was also expressed about the loss to the State of the skills to provide the service;

— medical scientists are the hidden heroes of the health service, as they are the people who process test samples for Covid-19, who do blood tests, who test urine and stool samples, and they have been under intense pressure during the Covid-19 pandemic;

— there is huge frustration and burn-out of medical scientists because of a severe recruitment and retention problem which has been ignored by the HSE and Department of Health for many years;

— last November, MLSA members voted 98 per cent in favour of taking industrial action in pursuit of their pay parity claim and recruitment for vacant posts; and

— the MLSA planned for strike action in late March/early April 2022, but deferred this action to accept an invitation to meet the Public Sector Agreement Group (PSAG), however, satisfactory progress was not achieved, and industrial action began last week and continues this week;

further notes that:

— inflation has reached seven per cent and pay increases, at least equal to the rate of inflation, are necessary to protect all workers' real incomes;

— the MLSA action follows many rounds of unsuccessful talks with the HSE, Department of Health, Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) and the PSAG;

— the HSE has told the MLSA that funding for pay parity is a decision for DPER, but DPER has not engaged meaningfully with the MLSA over its pay claim;

— the MLSA has made every effort to avoid the disruption to patients and fellow healthcare workers, but has been left with no alternative but to take this action;

— up to 14,000 outpatient appointments were cancelled on the first day of strike action, with significant impacts on Emergency Departments, the number of patients on trolleys and on general practitioner services;

— the vast majority of MLSA members have been on picket lines at all public voluntary and HSE hospitals during the last week and have received enormous public support for their action; and

— further days of strike action are planned next week on 31st May and 1st-2nd June; and

calls on the Government to:

— ensure that DPER and the HSE agree to the long-standing pay parity award recommended over two decades ago, and immediately implement the average eight per cent pay increase sought by MLSA members;

— begin a recruitment campaign to fill the estimated 20 per cent of medical scientist posts that are currently vacant; and

— publish a plan for the rapid rebuilding of testing capabilities and capacity in the public health service, and to end the outsourcing of testing to the private sector.

I welcome to the Public Gallery some members of the Medical Laboratory Scientists Association members. They are very welcome. It was not too long ago that we were all clapping for them, but the Government has forgotten to clap for them in relation to pay and retention of staff.

It is 21 years since a report of the expert group on medical laboratory technician grades recommended pay parity between medical scientists and clinical biochemists. The HSE and the Department of Health accepted that recommendation 21 years ago. It is an established fact that MLSA members are paid on average 8% less than their colleagues doing the same work. This is only the second time the association has taken industrial action in the 60 years of its existence.

Medical scientists are sometimes the workers we do not see but they play a vital part in our health service. Never was this more evident than during the continued fight against Covid-19. The Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, will share my view in that regard. They are the hidden heroes among front-line staff. They process test samples to make sure medical procedures go ahead. Despite this, one in five medical scientist positions remains vacant. In November last year, 98% of MLSA members voted in favour of industrial action. For medical scientists it feels as though the Government, the HSE, the Department of Health and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform have all absolved themselves from responsibility on this issue. In addition, our motion calls on the Government to rebuild the testing capacity in the public health service system and end the outsourcing of testing to the private sector.

I put it to the Minister that no set of workers should be in this position of pay discrimination. Yesterday, when most of us were on the picket line, there was a huge outpouring of public support for the workers. The workers did not want to be there. They wanted to be in their workplace. They were forced, however, by this historical legacy of pay parity injustice. I am aware that the dispute has gone to the Labour Court but the issue must be resolved, not only for the workers themselves, but also for staff retention in the general public health system. We must keep professional staff in the health system. If we do not, we will keep haemorrhaging staff and returning to this issue year after year.

That the situation has been allowed to get this far is pretty shambolic. As I said, a number of months ago we were all clapping for front-line staff in the pandemic. That reflected a genuine feeling for these workers who were going into their workplace each day, sometimes in fear that they might catch the virus or bring it back to their families. These workers were at the front line of Covid-19 as regards testing and capacity. It is shambolic that this was allowed to happen and workers are on strike. I hope the dispute will be resolved very soon. The workers do not want to go back out on strike. They want to be in their workplace. We have gone beyond platitudes. This strike and dispute need to be resolved immediately so the workers can go back to the job and continue to play their vital role in the health service.

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