Doctors are attending the annual general meeting of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) in Killarney, Co Kerry, to discuss staffing, bed capacity and health funding.
The impact of consultants being rostered to work at weekends is also a topic at the conference, which is being addressed by Health Service Executive CEO Bernard Gloster.
The IMO has said that sufficient staffing is needed to allow for weekend work and the maintenance of an adequate service during the week.
IMO consultant leader Professor Matthew Sadlier told the annual conference that for consultants to work weekends and for it to operate properly, the whole hospital needs to be working at weekends.
But he said the current health system is not set up for this.
Prof Sadlier said that if the number of consultants currently in the system were rostered over seven days, it would mean gaps at the weekend being pushed into the following week.
The issue of consultants being rostered at weekends to reduce overcrowding build-up on Saturdays and Sundays and bank holiday weekends, is being debated in a motion before members.
Mr Gloster said the issue is not just about consultants and that up to 10% of healthcare workers could be rostered fairly at weekends, to improve the service.
The CEO said that between the St Brigid's and St. Patrick’s Day holiday weekends, trolley numbers reduced by 831 and discharges increased by 277.
He told the IMO conference that on the Tuesday coming out of each weekend, trolleys moved from almost 600 to below 300.
This was one bank holiday compared to another, he said.
Mr Gloster said these improvements and response to demand in unscheduled care are important, beyond the unacceptable conditions of trolleys.
This year there has been an 11% improvement in trolley numbers, despite a growth of 6.4% in attendances at emergency departments, and 10% growth at some hospitals, he added.
Call for full review into rostering
Consultants are calling for the HSE and Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill to commission a full review into the advantages and feasibility of increased rostering of consultant staff at weekends, and the impact on wider hospital functioning.
Doctors claim that most consultants work a five-day pattern, with on-call services providing care outside of these times.
The IMO has said that it is not against consultants working rostered hours over weekends, and this was provided for under the public-only contract introduced in March 2023.
The IMO represents GPs, consultants, non-consultant hospital doctors and public health doctors.
It wants an urgent investment in bed capacity and is seeking 5,000 more beds.
The union also wants an increase in doctor numbers, and has expressed concern about the ongoing impact of the HSE controls on pay and numbers.
Incoming IMO President Dr Anne Dee, a public health consultant, has said that communities on the margins are suffering from far poorer health outcomes than those with access to better housing, education and work opportunities.
