The Irish Medical Organisation says it is studying the implications of a ruling delivered this morning by the EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg on the working conditions of doctors involved in primary health care.
The Court was delivering its judgement in a case involving Spanish emergency services doctors who claim the duration of their work is not subjected to any daily, weekly or annual limits.
The Court decided that doctors involved in primary health care ARE covered by new EU working time regulations which set out minimum periods of rest and adequate breaks.
The Court also made a clear distinction between doctors who are present at a health centre where they are physically on call and doctors who are contactable but not at a health centre. In effect the EU provisions on working time do not apply to doctors who are away from their workplace, even if they are contactable by a bleeper on mobile phone.
The working conditions of junior doctors and general practitioners in many EU countries, including Ireland, has been a contentious issue for several years.
