Some hospital consultants earn over €250,000

HSE dataSome hospital consultants are earning over €250,000 in salary and allowances for their work in public hospitals, it has emerged.

Figures released by the Health Service Executive (HSE) recently in response to a series of parliamentary questions reveal that one consultant radiologist in Mullingar Hospital received €253,029 last year.

The HSE said that this figure did not include any overtime payment but did take account of on-call allowances and other payments. The figure also does not include any private practice earnings, if any.

The basic salary for a consultant in a public hospital ranges from around €125,000 up to around €160,000 for a 33-hour week. Consultants generally do not receive overtime but can claim for on-call and out-of-hours payments.

Figures also released by the HSE show that one non-consultant specialist registrar at Our Lady's Hospital in Crumlin was paid €205,000 last year. The basic salary for the grade is around €71,000. The bulk of the additional payments was made up of overtime.

In response to a series of questions set down by Fine Gael deputy Seymour Crawford, the HSE provided details of salary and overtime payments for a number of grades in a sample of hospitals around the State.

The HSE said the highest earning doctor at St James's Hospital in Dublin was a consultant haematologist with an average working week of 33 hours.

It said the consultant concerned received total gross pay of €224,052 last year. The HSE said this did not include any overtime but did take account of on-call allowances and other payments.

"The highest earning nurse in St James's is an assistant director of nursing with an average working week of 39 hours. Total gross pay of €85,568 does not include overtime payment or on-call allowance but does include other allowances, weekend and public holiday premia and night duty.

"The highest earning allied healthcare professional in St James's is an assistant occupational therapist superintendent with an average working week of 33.75 hours. Total gross pay of €111,577 does not include any overtime payment or on-call allowance but does include other allowances," the HSE stated.

The HSE said the highest earning nurse in Mullingar Hospital was an assistant director of nursing who received €90,453 last year for a 39-hour week. This figure includes overtime payment, other allowances, weekend and public holiday premia and night duty but does not include an on-call allowance.

The highest earning allied healthcare professional in Mullingar last year was a chief medical scientist with an average working week of 34.75 hours who received total gross pay of €102,000. This figure included on-call and other allowances but not overtime.

The HSE figures also show that a consultant medical oncologist was the highest earning doctor at Tullamore Hospital last year with total gross pay of €204,697. This included overtime, on-call allowance and other payments.

The highest earning nurse at Tullamore was an assistant director of nursing who received total gross pay of €90,057.

The highest earning doctor at Portlaoise General Hospital was a consultant physician with an average working week of 34.67 hours who received total gross pay of €182,617. This included overtime, on-call and other allowances.

The HSE also revealed that a specialist registrar in orthopaedics at St James's Hospital in Dublin last year received a gross total of €178,000. The basic salary for the grade is €71,000 and the balance was largely made up of overtime. The figures also show that a registrar in Nenagh earned €133,000 last year. The basic salary for the grade is €57,000.