HSE to advertise for 100 new consultants

HEALTH SERVICE management is to advertise for around 100 new hospital consultants on revised terms and conditions in the weeks ahead, it has emerged.

It is expected that the recruitment plan will be announced following a meeting today between Minister for Health Mary Harney and the chairman and the chief executive of the Health Service Executive (HSE), Liam Downey and Prof Brendan Drumm.

The posts, which will be advertised in the middle of next month, will include a number of positions for cancer specialists which management has maintained are urgently needed.

It is understood that the advertisements will state that the posts are being offered on the basis of a new national contract "which is currently being finalised between health service management and consultant representative organisations".

Details of the plan were set out yesterday at a meeting between management and medical bodies aimed at reaching a final agreement on a new contract.

A deal between management and the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association was announced in January following lengthy talks.

However, a final contract document has not yet been agreed between the sides.

The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) was not party to the agreement reached in January.

Medical organisations had contended that the delay in advertising new consultant posts, which all parties agree are necessary, was due to financial problems in the health sector.

However, this has been denied by the HSE.

Exactly a year ago the HSE unilaterally advertised for 68 new consultants on revised terms without the agreement of the medical bodies.

However, this plan was scrapped to allow for further talks on an overall deal to take place.

Informed sources said that the new 100 consultants to be recruited would represent the 68 posts from last year as well as some additional positions.

Talks between management and the medical organisations aimed at reaching a final agreement on a consultant contract are to continue over the coming days.

It is understood that the parties are still at odds in a number of areas including pay and private practice rights. Under the current deal, consultants would receive up to €240,000 per year for doctors working exclusively in the public sector.

However, it is understood that the IMO is still seeking pay scales of up to €260,000.

There is also disagreement over the pay for academic consultants who carry out teaching and research duties in addition to their clinical commitments.

The medical organisations have sought salaries of about €310,000, Ms Harney has said that such figures were "not on".

Management has offered pay of up to €265,000, although some sources said that an informal offer of €280,000 was mooted last week.

The medical bodies are also seeking to have the the ratio on private practice work in public hospitals revised to 70:30 rather than 80:20.

Management has said that existing consultants could continue with the level of private practice carried out in 2006 up to a ceiling of 70:30 for the lifetime of the agreement.

However, management has also ruled out a 70:30 ratio for all consultants.