LAST UPDATE | 9 Jun

AS MANY AS 14 scheduled open-heart surgeries that were to take place this week have faced delays as cardiac specialist staff are striking over the HSE’s failure to implement a Labour Court recommendation on their pay. 

Two further days of strike action planned for next week are expected to have a further impact on cardiac surgical services, as the HSE has not engaged with the union Fórsa on the pay dispute. 

Perfusionists play a vital role in cardiac surgeries that take place across five hospital sites in Ireland, including the Crumlin Children’s hospital. 

There are just 25 perfusionists in Ireland, they are responsible for operating the heart-lung machine that keeps patients alive while surgeons carry out procedures on the heart. 

In doing so, they manage the circulation of blood and oxygen for patients while their heart is temporarily stopped. 

Perfusionists on the picket line outside the Mater hospital today called for the HSE to “respect the Labour court”. 

Rob Regan, the head of the perfusion department at the hospital, said that pay disparity since 2024 has cost the cohort roughly €7,000 a year, and it is leading to junior perfusionists to go and work in private hospitals, who offer higher pay. 

“To make up for that staffing shortfall, the HSE is paying far for locum services than the cost of implementing the Labour Court recommendation,” he said. 

Regan said that the staff on strike today are acutely aware of the impact of patients who have had their cardiac surgeries cancelled. 

“We’re shocked that the HSE has allowed this to happen, and has refused to engage, because we know the impact that this has. 

“There’s not a single man or woman in this group who haven’t given their all to cardiac surgical services.

“It’s a shameful day that cardiac surgeries have been cancelled nationally because of the actions of the HSE,” he added. 

Gary Gannon TD, who was at the Mater to show support for the strike action, said that the HSE paying for locum perfusion services while labour court recommendations on pay for existing staff have not been fulfilled is an example of “the health service wasting taxpayer money”. 

“These 25 people involved in our healthcare service do vital work and they are not being respected,” he added. 

Niall Shanahan, organiser with the public service union Fórsa, says that this small and highly specialised workforce have been left with no option but to strike. 

“We lay the blame for impact of scheduled surgeries solely at the feet of the HSE because this strike was totally avoidable,” he told The Journal. 

The Labour Court recommended in January of this year that the decades-long pay link between perfusionists and medical scientists needs to be restored. 

When the HSE brought in a higher pay scale for medical scientists in 2024, it did not apply this scale to perfusionists. 

The court has recommended that this disparity needs to be amended and that the new pay scale should be retroactively applied to perfusionists from 1 January 2024. 

Shanahan said that the HSE has not intervened in the run-up to the industrial action, leaving perfusionists no choice but to take to the picket lines. 

Pickets operated today at the Mater hospital, St James’s Hospital, CHI Crumlin, Cork University Hospital, and University Hospital Galway. 

Fórsa previously said that the HSE has refused to engage with the union representatives for the striking workforce on contingency plans and patient safety matters. 

As the HSE has not engaged with the union on the pay matter following today’s strike, two further days of action will take place next Tuesday and Wednesday, and it is expected that this will have a further impact on cardiac surgical services.