Serving consultants moving to new posts will not face pay cut

Serving hospital consultants who move to another position within the public health system will not face a 30 per cent reduction in pay, under revised measures agreed by the Government .

In a letter to the HSE, the secretary general of the Department of Health Ambrose McLoughlin said that the Minister for Health James Reilly had already acknowledged that "application of the 30 per cent reduced scale to experienced highly-qualified consultants does not make sense and has to be modified".

"I am pleased to be able to confirm, further to engagement with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform that the current guidance on application of the 30 per cent reduced salary scales is to be immediately modified to allow serving established consultants who are appointed to a different post within the public health service to retain their existing salaries."

The Government reduced the pay of new consultants and those moving to new positions in autumn 2012.

Medical organisations maintained that the move led to “a brain drain” and a fall off in applications for consultant positions in Irish hospitals.

The Irish Medical Organisation welcomed that move by the Department of Health.

However it said it had “ serious concerns at the length of time it has taken for the Minister to realise the error of his decision in September 2012 to announce a unilateral pay cut of 30 per cent for new entrant consultants”.