TOP PUBLIC health doctors are to receive pay increases of nearly €10,000 under two separate increases which have been sanctioned by the Department of Health. Directors of public health medicine and specialists in public health medicine, who work for the Health Service Executive (HSE), are to receive a 5 per cent salary increase, backdated to September 2007.
About 60 doctors in these two grades will also receive a further 2.5 per cent increase under a national wage round dating back to last year. This pay rise, which was awarded to all other staff in the public service, was withheld from public health doctors because of a row with the Department of Health.
The first 5 per cent increase for the directors of public health medicine and specialists in public health medicine arises from an award recommended nearly two years ago by the Review Body on Higher Remuneration – the group which assesses top-level pay in the public service. The review body proposed increases of 15 – 20 per cent for doctors in these grades. However, the Government decided to cap the award at 5 per cent. No part of the increases recommended was paid out to personnel in the health sector.
On foot of the increases, the salaries for directors of public health medicine will rise from €132,000 to over €141,000. Pay for a specialist in public health medicine will increase from €113,000 to about €120,000.
The HSE said yesterday that the doctors concerned would also receive arrears of approximately €10,000 to €12,000 arising from the payment of the increase.
There will also be additional back money arising from the delayed payment of the national wage increase.
The review body described specialists in public health medicine as clinicians who have received specific training in the areas of epidemiology and biostatistics, evidence-based healthcare, infectious diseases control and prevention.
It said that in general terms directors could be described as specialists with additional administrative/management functions. There are eight directors of public health medicine and 52 specialists in public health.
The HSE said yesterday that the doctors concerned had not been given the 2.5 per cent increase under the national agreement, Towards 2016, which was due from September last year, “because of their failure to provide an out of hours service as recommended in various reports in recent years”.
“However, following the decision of the doctors in May of this year, to provide such a service, the secretary general of the Department of Health and Children sanctioned the payment of the 2.5 per cent increase from the original due date.” The decision by the department to sanction the increases comes at a time when the role of public health doctors is becoming increasingly important, given the global swine flu pandemic and the growing problem with mumps in Ireland.