Doctors are calling for the mandatory reporting of all injuries incurred by students playing sports in school.
Dr Ray Walley, president of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO), said the Government should establish a mandatory reporting system to the Health and Safety Authority in relation to sports injuries. He said there had been a lot of debate nationally and internationally in relation to the accurate reporting of sports injuries in schools.
His call will be debated along with other motions at the annual conference of the IMO, which starts on Thursday evening in Sligo and continues for three days.
Union conferences
As with other union conferences this week, much of the conference will be dominated by pay matters, in particular the issue of parity between newer and more established doctors.
The organisation is calling on the next government to acknowledge the inadequacy of public health services and to commit to a five-year investment programme to redress cuts made in recent years.
GPs are currently engaged in talks with the Department of Health on a new contract, while hospital consultants are seeking talks on a new contract that would include the payments of money they say are owed from breaches of the existing contracts.
The Mayo branch is calling for GPs to be paid €120 an hour so they can cover the cost of a locum when attending primary care meetings. It also says it should be the responsibility of the HSE to find a locum when a GP is sick.
Caretaker capacity
Outgoing Minister for Health Leo Varadkar asked to attend the conference and will address delegates in Sligo tomorrow. His approach contrasts with that of Minister for Education Jan O'Sullivan, who did not attend the teacher conferences on the basis that it would be inappropriate to do so while acting in a caretaker capacity.
Other motions will seek the introduction of a tax on sugar-sweetened drinks with the revenue to be ringfenced for health programmes and reforms to the medical negligence system. The IMO is calling on Ministers to ensure locations where health services are delivered are adequately resourced to meet Hiqa standards.
