14% of hospital consultant positions are vacant

NEARLY one-in-five of the country’s obstetrics/gynaecology posts are unfilled, while across all medical specialities 14% of approved consultant positions are empty.

The failure to fill posts highlights a lack of planning on the behalf of the Health Service Executive (HSE), Fine Gael says.

A total of 2,055 hospital consultant postings have been approved by the HSE and 1,772 have been filled, with 283 — 14% — vacant.