THE DEPARTMENT of Finance has ruled out proposals that hospital consultants with experience at senior level abroad should receive a higher salary when taking up positions in Ireland. The move was backed by the Health Service Executive (HSE).
Under the terms of the revised contract, new consultants taking up posts in Ireland are appointed at the lowest level of a four-point incremental salary scale, irrespective of their previous experience.
All existing consultants who accepted the new contract were moved to the highest point of the scale.
For the past 18 months or so the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) has been lobbying for consultants who have held recognised posts as consultants or specialists in other countries to receive incremental credit for these posts when taking up positions in Ireland.
In May, the HSE told the Department of Health that it supported the IHCA proposals.
“The HSE has concluded that there is merit in the IHCA’s proposal and that the provision of incremental credit would further incentivise highly qualified individuals to return from abroad to work in the Irish public health system,” it said.
The HSE suggested that new consultants should be moved one point up the incremental scale for every year of service abroad.
It proposed that a full 12 months’ experience would be necessary to qualify in each case.
However, in recent weeks the Department of Finance has rejected the HSE proposals.
In a letter to the Department of Health sent at the end of September, it said it was “not convinced” that such a move would encourage highly qualified individuals to return from abroad to work in Ireland.
The Department of Finance said that the incremental increases concerned were relatively small and were, in any event, far less than the pay cuts introduced by the Government for hospital consultants over the past year or so.
“Government pay policy is currently predicated on the absolute requirement to reduce the public sector pay bill and all proposals that will impact on the overall pay bill, no matter how small, must be considered in that context.
“Accordingly, the request for sanction to the application of incremental credit to consultants for previous employment must be refused.”
The salary scale for new entrant consultants on a type A contract ranges from €184,455 to €192,492.
The salary scale for new consultants with a type B contract ranges from €173,620 to €176,000.
Pay rates for hospital consultants were reduced by up to 15 per cent by the Government last year.