487 hospital consultant vacancies blamed on pay gap
The number of vacant hospital consultant posts across the public health service is heading towards 500 at a time of HSE recruitment restrictions and when emergency departments are buckling under trolley numbers.
The latest HSE quarterly headcount of senior doctors shows 15% of consultant posts are now unfilled, including 23 vacancies in emergency medicine.
Almost 550 patients were waiting for beds in hospitals yesterday, including 384 in emergency departments.
Specialities with the highest number of vacancies include 54 in general medicine, 41 in anaesthesia, 34 in paediatrics, and 48 in psychiatry, including 19 in child and adolescent psychiatry.
Cancer services are also badly affected with 37 vacancies in radiology, while 25 posts in obstetrics/gynaecology are unfilled. In the area of psychiatry of learning disability, 24 posts are empty.
Irish Hospital Consultants’ Association general secretary Martin Varley said he is “not surprised” at the level of vacancies — 487 in total, up from 349 last July.
“We have been saying for some time that there is a massive recruitment and retention crisis,” said Mr Varley.
The main cause is the pay difference between consultants appointed prior to and after 2012, where the latter could earn up to €50,000 less than longer-serving colleagues.
The association said the Government has failed to fill up to a third of consultant posts advertised in recent years, and more than one third of posts advertised received zero or just one application.
Mr Varley said that, in this context, any form of recruitment freeze would add to the problems association members identified in a survey last month.
It found most believed a lack of suitably qualified consultants was resulting in a decline in the standard of patient care, and that hospitals will be unable to sustain present levels of clinical services for patients if the recruitment and retention crisis is not resolved.
Mr Varley said consultants would have to be given a derogation from any recruitment freeze as it would add to staffing problems.
The HSE said in a statement that a derogation exists for all development posts “and any restrictions will only apply where there is not a clear plan to live within available funding”.
It said decisions on recruitment remain with CEOs of hospital groups and chief officers of the community healthcare organisations, “but a comprehensive plan is required”.
The Department of Health said its officials “have been engaging with the HSE in reaching agreement on a pay and numbers strategy for 2019”.
“As part of this process, the HSE directorate has made it clear that recruitment restrictions will only be necessary if hospital groups fail to provide clarity on plans for 2019,” it said.
“On receipt and acceptance of balanced plans, these additional controls can be reviewed and removed where appropriate.”
The HSE recruitment restrictions are outlined in a letter from Liam Woods, deputy director general, dated March 29. He says the restrictions will be introduced “where necessary for a three-month period pending clarity of plans for 2019 and financial performance in Q1, 2019”.
