OPEN-HEART AND COMPLEX cardiac surgeries in hospitals across the country face potential cancellation next week as a small group of highly specialised healthcare workers prepare to begin strike action over a long-running pay dispute.
The industrial action, due to start on Tuesday 9 June, will involve 25 perfusionists employed across five hospital groups.
Perfusionists are members of cardiac surgery teams who are responsible for operating the heart-lung machine that keeps patients alive while surgeons carry out procedures on the heart.
Their main role is managing the circulation of blood and oxygen for patients while the heart is temporarily stopped.
Their union, Fórsa, says the action stems from the HSE’s decision to break a decades-long pay link between perfusionists and medical scientists, and its refusal to implement a Labour Court recommendation issued in January 2026 ordering that the link be restored.
The Labour Court found that perfusionists and medical scientists had an established pay relationship dating back to around the 1960s, and that the HSE had “unilaterally breached” that arrangement when revised medical scientist pay scales were introduced in January 2024 but not applied to perfusionists.
It recommended that the higher pay scale be applied to perfusionists retrospectively from 1 January 2024.
Fórsa says that despite serving notice of industrial action two weeks ago, the HSE has not engaged with the union on contingency planning or patient-safety measures.
“It is unacceptable that, with industrial action due to begin next week, there has been no attempt to engage to consider derogations to mitigate the impact on patient care, much less to resolve the matters in dispute,” Fórsa’s national secretary Linda Kelly said.
The union has written to the HSE to raise concerns that the lack of planning could lead to the cancellation of scheduled surgeries, including time-sensitive cardiac procedures.
Because of the highly specialised nature of their work, even limited industrial action by 25 perfusionists is expected to cause disruption, with hospitals likely to be forced to postpone some procedures.
The HSE has been contacted for comment.