Varadkar described Reilly pay cut for new consultants as a “mistake”, claims IHCA

Minister for Health Leo Varadkar said the 30 per cent pay cut for new-entrant hospital consultants, put in place in 2012 by his predecessor James Reilly, was a "mistake", the Irish Hospital Consultants Association has claimed.

The association’s annual report maintains that, at a meeting at the end of July, Mr Varadkar said it was costing much more money to fill an increasing number of vacant hospital consultant posts on a temporary basis through employment agencies.

New proposals put forward by the Labour Relations Commission last month sought to partially reverse this pay cut over time. However, the IHCA report, which has been issued in advance of its annual conference this weekend, argues that the measures put forward do not go far enough.

Under the proposals, the salary of a consultant working exclusively in the public service would increase from the current scale of between €116,00 and €121,000 to between €127,000 and €175,000.

Some consultants with experience could be permitted to enter the Irish health system at a salary of €155,000 under the proposals.

Partial solution

The IHCA report said the proposed partial solution would not prove effective in attracting the calibre and number of consultants that were needed, especially in the light of breaches by the State of a contract agreed with consultants in 2008.

The breaches “have undermined trust and represent the main reason for the increasing medical brain drain”, says the report. The IHCA also criticised the “lack of clarity” in the current proposals.

"The association continues to call on the State to honour the existing 2008 consultant contract and reverse in full the damaging 30 per cent cut in consultant salaries, to ensure that a sustainable solution is put in place so that our highly trained doctors will want to practise in Ireland as consultants in the future."

Shortage

The IHCA report also maintains that a shortage of medical consultants employed in acute hospital and mental health services is delaying patient care, adding to waiting lists and increasing clinical risk.

The report also maintains that the cost of clinical indemnity has increased to prohibitive levels and that this is “undermining the viability of the private practices of consultants”.

The report also says there is a pressing need for the Government to increase frontline acute resources in the 2015 budget, “otherwise the delivery of care to patients will be adversely affected, leading to increased delays and growing numbers of patients on waiting lists”.

The IHCA, which represents about 2,000 hospital consultants, meets in Cork this weekend for its annual conference, which will be addressed by Minister of State at the Department of Health Kathleen Lynch.