Doctoring their salaries

A new review to compare the pay levels of Irish public servants to those in other countries could change the consultants’ pay deal

THE ISSUE of the recent wage increase given to hospital consultants as a result of the agreement with the Government is likely to come under increased scrutiny when a new report on the politically sensitive area of the pay to higher paid public servants is presented to Government.

A report on behalf of the Review Body on Higher Remuneration, carried out by the Hay Group, could make uncomfortable reading for highly paid public servants such as hospital consultants.

It is due to report to the Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan at the end of the month and has been given a remit to “undertake a fresh review of top level pay rates”.

That review will compare the pay levels of Irish public servants to those in countries of comparative size in the EU.

A Department of Finance spokesman said the issue of pay to the top earning public servants was firmly on the Government’s agenda.

“I know for a fact that one of the grades that is being looked at is that of secretary-general of a department and hospital consultants would be linked into that,” he said.

“Nobody has been excluded. All of those on higher grades, like consultants, are subject to this review group,” he said.

The Department of Health and Children said that it would be “premature” to speculate on the outcome of the review “or on any decisions that the Government might make arising from it regarding the salary levels of senior public servants generally, including medical consultants”.

The issue of the pay and conditions, particularly pensions, given to politicians, higher paid civil servants, judges and hospital consultants is an emotive one for the public and any cuts would be politically popular as the Government seeks to make a further €4 billion saving in spending in the next budget.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen said he would not rule out public service pay cuts which, he said, would be preferable to cuts in services or redundancies in the public sector.

Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe said he was in favour of “reverse benchmarking” and included hospital consultants among those who should be subject to it. The issue has gained prominence following the payment of an average €25,000 increase to hospital consultants in May to bring their average salaries up to €225,000.

The money was paid as a result of an agreement concluded last year between the Government and the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) following four years of protracted negotiations.

The payments raised the ire of one consultant, Dr John Barton, from Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe, Co Galway, who wrote a letter to this newspaper describing it as “outrageous”.

“We are experiencing the worst financial crisis this country has ever seen, and yet Government can on the one hand allow a large increase in health expenditure on salaries for highly paid health service personnel, and, on the other, through its health service executive arm, cut hospital and other health services to sick people,” he said.

Since the letter was published, Dr Barton said he has received both “quiet” support and public criticism of his views which he intended not as a criticism of his fellow consultants, but of the governance of the country.

“If the Government comes around tomorrow morning and says, ‘Look guys, we’re going to take €10,000 off you’, so be it, that’s it. I love my country. I don’t want to see it in this state. If there’s anything I can do to help I will.

“To me the issue is not about what consultants are being paid, it is the decision-making process that sanctions such an increase at a time like this.”

Though many would be loathe to revisit a deal which took so long to negotiate, it is now firmly back on the agenda.

Fine Gael health spokesman Dr James Reilly said there was “little doubt” that his party would seek to reopen the deal if it is in power at the next general election.

Dr Reilly says the consultants are getting a lot extra for not doing anything extra. “It is simply not sustainable when so many people are losing their jobs. Anybody looking at this from the outside can see that this has to be looked at again.”

The Labour Party has called for a €200,000 cap on the pay of all public servants.

The party’s health spokeswoman, Jan O’Sullivan, said it was apparent even as it was concluded back in early 2008 that the hospital consultants’ deal was bad.

“The salary levels are huge. I really believe that this deal should not have been agreed with those levels of pay. By the time they got to closing the deal, it was clear that the country was in trouble. I believe the entire area should be revisited,” she said.

Similar sentiments were expressed by consultant oncologist Dr John Crown, who has been a trenchant critic of public health policy in this country and who has refused to take the contract because he says it reinforces the public-private divide in healthcare treatment in this country.

“I genuinely feel that the contract that was negotiated indicates the extraordinary level of ignorance and naivety on the part of the HSE out of an artificial bubble of opulence. They reckoned we were such a rich country that we could afford the luxury of an unbelievable contract like this,” he said.

The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) said the issue of cuts in consultants’ pay was “hypothetical” as no such proposal was on the table.

“The contract that the consultants have to deliver has been delivered 100 per cent by us,” said IHCA deputy secretary Donal Duffy.

The first phase of the increase, which Dr Barton alluded to in his letter, was agreed last year and was implemented in July, backdated to the start of the year.

A second increase due in June for an average of about €15,000 was not paid.

“We don’t anticipate it will be paid,” said Mr Duffy. “That payment has been deferred and we have no idea when it will be paid, but we are mindful of the overall state of the economy.

“That effectively amounts to a salary decrease for consultants. We are the only group in the public sector I’m aware of who have taken an effective salary decrease at this stage. A consultant on a public-only contract should be on a salary of €250,000 a year. He is not.

“If the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance are talking about a reduction, we already have had a reduction.”

Do you think hospital consultants should have to take a pay cut? E-mail healthsupplement@irishtimes.com