James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Question 262: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the on-call rates for staff at public hospital labs and radiography; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29571/09]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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On-call/Stand-by is defined as a period when an employee is scheduled for a designated period to be available for emergency work. An on-call stand-by payment is a fixed payment made for the designated period(s) for which the employee makes themselves available. Call-out arises when employees return to work after their normal working hours to cover any emergency situations arising. There are two payment systems for call-out; on-call with stand-by (where employees are in receipt of a stand-by fee) or on-call without stand-by (where there is no payment for being available but a higher fee per callout is paid).

The Deputy refers to an on-call rate from midnight to 9am and states that it may be 5 to 7 times the normal hourly rate. It appears that the Deputy is referring to one of the on-call fees payable to Radiographers, entitled CT Scan On-Call rate which applies from Midnight to 9.00am between Monday to Friday and from 12 noon on Saturday to 9.00am on Monday. It is important to clarify that this particular on-call rate is not an hourly rate, but rather a fee paid to a radiographer in the event that they are required to carry out a scan while on-call. This is paid on a fee-per-scan basis and it should be noted that such scans would only be carried out in emergency cases.

The nature of on-call work differs significantly from that of general shift work or overtime as referred to by the Deputy and as such is not directly comparable for work or pay purposes. The current on-call rates payable for the staff concerned are set out in the following table: