After a long-running campaign, members in Beaumont Hospital have secured a significant win with the restoration of the permanent Principal Biochemist position imminent.

An agreement was reached at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) in late January, which has led to recruitment for the post beginning this week.  

The agreement enshrined a commitment by Beaumont Hospital to move swiftly to recruit a permanent Principal Biochemist, and that future vacancies will be filled in line with usual procedures. As a result, all industrial action was suspended. 

Speaking about the importance of the position, Fórsa official Lynn Coffey said: “The Principal Biochemist is a very important post as Beaumont Hospital is a teaching hospital, and it has always upheld a very high standard within the field of biochemistry. 

“Biochemists are integral to the proper functioning of the hospital and without a line manager with the specific knowledge and competencies to understand their work they were very concerned their work would suffer.” 

Workplace rep and biochemist in Beaumont, David Foley, explains that the Principal Biochemist acts as a bridge between the clinical teams and laboratory teams in the hospital, as they have both scientific and clinical knowledge. 

He said: “We work in the clinical biochemistry department, where we bring new methods into the lab to help clinicians monitor diagnosis and prognosis. Without a line manager with both clinical and biochemistry qualifications we wouldn’t be able to do that work properly.” 

Looking back David says: “When it first became clear in 2021 that the Principal Biochemist wasn’t going to be replaced on retirement we decided as a group that we wouldn’t let this happen. We weren’t prepared to have no line manager." 

“It’s a really important role for patients and we wanted to make sure our voice as biochemists would continue to be heard by management. So, we went to Fórsa. It’s taken a long time to get to this point, but it’s been worth it. 

Lynn attributed success of the campaign to the commitment members showed throughout the industrial action, which included a work to rule, strict adherence to reporting lines as per contracts of employment, and a withdrawal of training provided to other professions.  

Commending the workplace reps who led the campaign Lynn underlined their professionalism and diligence, highlighting that they kept members’ professional integrity and patient safety to the fore in all negotiations.  

The experience has motivated David and colleagues in the biochemist team to get more involved in union activity across the hospital. David is now on the Beaumont Hospital house committee and credits that committee with huge support during the biochemists’ dispute. He said: “We couldn’t have done this without the power of everyone in the union across the hospital coming together to support us.” 

“I’ve learnt so much about how to make change happen in the workplace. While I hope we don’t have to fight this fight again, I’ll be ready to bring everything we’ve learnt to support others on any issue that might come up in the future.”

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