Fórsa has expressed serious concern that the HSE has yet to engage with the union or outline contingency arrangements ahead of planned industrial action by perfusionists next week.
Perfusionists are cardiovascular specialists who play a critical role in life-saving cardiac and complex surgical procedures. The dispute arises from the HSE’s unilateral decision to break a long-standing pay link between perfusionists and medical scientists, and its subsequent refusal to implement a Labour Court recommendation to restore that link, issued in January this year.
Twenty-five Fórsa members working as perfusionists across five hospital groups are due to begin a series of work stoppages on Tuesday, 9th June, in a dispute about pay and the HSE’s failure to implement the Labour Court recommendation (LCR23209).
Despite the imminent disruption, which is likely to include the cancellation of scheduled surgeries, Fórsa says the HSE has not sought engagement on contingency planning or patient safety measures.
Fórsa national secretary Linda Kelly said the lack of preparation remains a concern for the union: “Fórsa served notice of this action two weeks ago and has been available to meet the HSE in line with agreed dispute resolution frameworks, but no such engagement has been sought.
“It is unacceptable that, with industrial action due to begin next week, there has been no attempt to engage to consider derogations to mitigate the impact on patient care, much less to resolve the matters in dispute,” she said.
Fórsa has formally written to the HSE to record its concerns and has urged management to engage without delay to ensure appropriate planning is put in place ahead of the industrial action.
The Labour Court recommendation found the employer had unilaterally breached the existing agreement when it applied a revised pay scale to medical scientists, in January 2024, but not to the perfusionist grade. The Court recommended that the revised pay scale be applied, with retrospective effect, from 1st January 2024. Further details of the Labour Court recommendation are available here.
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