The MLSA will ballot members for industrial action in the coming weeks over the suppression by the HSE of all posts vacant on 31st December 2023 and the failure to replace posts that have become vacant since then. A motion on the issue was passed unanimously at the 2024 MLSA AGM.
Many medical scientist posts were vacant on 31st December 2023 due to the longstanding recruitment and retention crisis in the profession. The HSE has suppressed these frontline posts without assessing the effect on the service of the permanent loss of these posts, and has refused to share data with trade unions on how many funded and approved vacancies have been suppressed. Further medical scientist vacancies since 1st January 2024 are not being approved or prioritised.
HSE census figures show that there has been only a minimal increase in medical scientist posts since 2011, despite the exponential growth of laboratory workloads and the extension of the routine working day in that period. The MLSA has been warning the HSE for many years about the serious risks to laboratory services due to its failure to train sufficient numbers of registered medical scientists. The demands on laboratory services continue to grow and medical scientists continue to try to keep services going at great personal cost. Medical scientists can no longer sustain current levels of service and cannot afford to let the situation go unchallenged.
The MLSA is joining other health care unions, including Forsa, INMO and Connect, in balloting staff because of the serious risk to patient and staff health, safety and welfare.
The scale and nature of any industrial action has yet to be determined and all options will be considered, e.g. work to rule, withdrawal from overtime, non-co-operation with new developments, work stoppages or strike. The Executive Committee will meet with agents on 27th November and will liaise with members in the coming weeks before any such decision is made.
Notification of the ballot and full ballot information will issue to members next week.