Sir, – Those heart-rending letters from consultants about their pay are making me sick. Of course consultants are entitled to be paid well for their skills and qualifications, but their salary is too many multiples of the average industrial wage. We know that they are among the highest paid doctors in Europe.
There may be a long hard road to becoming a consultant (highly subsidised by the taxpayer), as well as their own personal sacrifice, but this road is made more difficult by their own professional bodies.
Finally, whenever they blame the Government for all the ills of the health system, do they ever question, as the highest paid participants, their own role and responsibilities in the delivery of a medical service that is so unequal and inefficient? – Yours, etc,