Martin planning more consultants

MORE consultants are to be brought into hospitals shortly on a pilot basis, Health Minister Micheál Martin confirmed yesterday.

There is pressure in the Department of Health to recruit more consultants because the EU has directed junior doctors working in hospitals must have work-time reduced to 48 hours a week.

Mr Martin said a major review of medical manpower is currently being undertaken by leading consultant David Hanly and he expects to publish that report by the end of February.

The aim of the review it to see how best to move from a consultant-led service to a consultant-provided service. Currently consultants lead a team of junior doctors. Mr Martin plans to change this so consultants have more contact with patients.

The review is also examining how increasing consultant numbers in certain hospitals would impact on the number of junior doctors, nurses and paramedics required, the minister said.

The department hopes to pilot the consultant-provided service in two areas the Mid Western Health Board and East Coast Area Health Board, Mr Martin said. "Depending on how the pilot projects get on, we could then roll it out nationally," he added.

While the minister said there would be a significant bill attached to that, it was hoped the same level of junior doctors would not be required.

A Sunday newspaper has revealed the Hanly report will recommend the appointment of hundreds more consultants around the country. But Mr Martin said no final decisions would be made until he receives the report.

Meanwhile, an independent draft review of how beds are managed in all the State's hospitals was presented to nursing unions yesterday. The review was ordered by the Health Service Employers Agency last year following the A&E nurses strike.

Both the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) and SIPTU have been claiming that inappropriate bed management is central to the ongoing crisis at A&E departments.

It is understood the draft review recommends hospital managers and consultants be on hand 24 hours a day to provide a more aggressive management of admissions and discharges.

It also advises more step-down beds outside the acute hospital service to ensure patients are not blocking beds unnecessarily. the nursing unions and hospital employers have asked for further work on the draft review before the final draft is presented in a week.