Madam, - I have been a consultant working in a public hospital for over 20 years. I strongly support the availability of a negotiated, real, public-only consultant contract. By this, I mean a contract whose holder works in a public hospital, seeing only public patients.
It is frequently forgotten that this type of contract was available a number of years ago but was subsequently withdrawn by the Government. This left the two remaining contract types usually referred to as Category 1 and Category 2, an understanding of which is crucial in the present discussions.
In Category 1, the consultant works in a public hospital only but can do both private and public work within that hospital. In Category 2, the consultant works in a public hospital but also has the right to do private practice outside that public hospital. It should be noted that only 30 per cent of the hospital consultants in this country hold a Category 2 contract.
It is my contention that when the Minister for Health speaks of a public-only contract she actually means a variation of the Category 1 contract. I believe she does not mean a real public-only contract and she has rarely been pressed on this point by interviewers.
Just imagine the anxiety of investors hoping to make money in the for-profit, co-located private hospitals if it were possible that the consultants in the adjoining public hospital would be offered a real public-only contract which, if accepted, would preclude them from doing any private practice.
I hope that in the contract negotiations all cards are on the table and are face-up rather than face-down. Unfortunately, as in many conflicts, the first casualty is often the truth. - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL O'DONOVAN, Midland Regional Hospital, Mullingar, Co Westmeath.