ABOUT TWO-THIRDS of hospital consultants have so far opted to take up the new consultant contract, the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) has said.
A spokesman for the IHCA, which holds its annual meeting in Cork today, said that "66 per cent of the first cohort" of consultants had signed up for the new deal, which was agreed after four years of sometimes fraught discussions.
Under the contract - set to pave the way for recruitment of up to 2,000 extra consultants - senior hospital doctors have agreed a longer working week and to move from a consultant-led to a consultant-provided health service. About 250 consultants in academic posts and a number of specialities have yet to be formally offered new contracts. Final uptake is expected to be known at the end of the year.
A closed session this evening will debate issues surrounding implementation of the new contract. It is understood that arrangements for clinical directorates are the source of some tension between consultants and the Health Service Executive (HSE).
HSE managers have proposed that there be a single clinical directorate covering a number of hospitals, while consultants wish to see clinical directors working within their speciality area.
A panel of experts, including HSE chief executive Prof Brendan Drumm and VHI medical director Dr Bernadette Carr will address a session on "Irish Healthcare 2020", which will look to the future of the health system.
A session on the national cancer strategy will hear from Prof Arnold Hill, the national surgical oncology adviser, while Prof Sir Bruce Keogh, the medical director of the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK will deliver a paper, Education of Doctors and Health Service Delivery.