Consultant posts likely to take at least a year to fill, CAG study shows

THE 68 new consultant posts advertised yesterday as part of the Government’s plan to boost the number of hospital specialists are likely to take at least a year to fill.

Applications were invited for the positions in what is to be the first of several hundred posts promised by the Government over the next few years.

But a study by the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) found that since 2004 the average time between approval being granted for a new post and the post being filled was 379 days.