AISLING CAMPBELL,
Madam, - There has been much criticism of hospital consultants in your paper and in the media in general in the past year. Much is made of the fact that consultants are contracted to work only 33 hours per week. However in reality most consultants work far longer hours than this every week and most work at a very fast pace indeed. An average working week of 50 hours (largely devoted to public practice) is not unusual, not including administrative work and academic work done at home in the evenings.
In many specialities - for example, surgery - the average working week for a consultant is far longer. Any (necessary) refreshments are eaten on the run, usually at one's desk.
This is not to bemoan the workload of consultants - this sort of working timetable is typical also of anyone in a highly paid executive position, or anyone running a business. I highlight these facts simply to dispel the myth of the lazy consultant.
The role of a consultant involves not only service provision, but also teaching, training of junior doctors, administrative work, research and audit. The focus of any reforms of the health service should be on not only ensuring that adequate services are provided but also that consultants are allowed to continue with these other essential tasks. Services must be consultant-led; clinicians are well-placed to plan services which must reflect the realities of the diseases that are our every day business.
If the consultant role is reduced to that of service provision alone, the health service will suffer. - Yours, etc.,
AISLING CAMPBELL, Consultant Psychiatrist, Cork University Hospital, Senior Lecturer, University College Cork.