Sir, – Please. Not again. And on the the front page. After all that has been written. Please differentiate between the earnings of hospital consultants in the public sector – who do not pay the public hospital in which they work for the use of the buildings, the materials used or the staff employed to assist them – and the payments to GPs which represent turnover before they pay for their premises, staff, insurance, etc.
– Yours etc,
Dr VALERIE COLLINS
Killorglin,
Co Kerry.
Sir, – A phone call to a UK agency confirms a plethora of consultant locum positions at £100-£115 per hour. The average Irish consultant salary of €164,494 could therefore be earned working 40-hour weeks for around 26 weeks of a year (using today’s conversion rates). Working less than 50 per cent of hours currently devoted would certainly afford an easier quality of life than the demands of being a “best paid” Irish hospital consultant.
There are many hard working and dedicated Irish hospital consultants who have not so far chosen the path of emigration. Negative media portrayal of consultants can damage already fractured morale.
– Yours, etc,
Dr JOSIE CLARE
Consultant Geriatrician,
Cork University Hospital,
Cork.