Overview
- Perfusionists, which walked off the job on Tuesday, June 9, caused 14 elective cardiac procedures to be cancelled or deferred across the Mater, St James's, CHI Crumlin, University Hospital Galway and Cork University Hospital.
- The dispute stems from the HSE applying a revised pay scale to medical scientists in January 2024 but not to perfusionists, and the Labour Court recommended restoring the pay link with retrospective effect to 1 January 2024.
- Fórsa says restoring the pay link would cost about €233,000 a year and argues much of that could be offset by savings on expensive locum cover created by the current two-tier pay situation.
- The HSE says it has contacted affected patients, put derogations in place to protect emergency services, and is developing contingency plans while continuing engagement with the union.
- Perfusionists are a tiny, highly specialised group of 25 who run heart–lung bypass machines during surgery, a fact that gives them outsize operational leverage and has prompted warnings of staff moving to the private sector if the pay issue is not resolved.