30% of hospital consultants in breach of terms of contract

APPROXIMATELY three in 10 consultants working in public hospitals are treating more private patients than permitted under the terms of their new contract.

An analysis of consultants’ clinical activity for the period April to June 2009 shows that in one hospital – St John’s in Limerick – not a single consultant complied with the terms of the new contract when treating in-patients. The contract places private practice limits of between 20%-30% on the number of private patients a consultant can treat.

At the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital in Dublin, less than a quarter of consultants complied with the limits. However, a number of hospitals reported full compliance when treating in-patients. These included Bantry Hospital; Monaghan General Hospital; Roscommon County Hospital; Tallaght Hospital; Naas; St Michael’s Hospital Dun Laoghaire; and St Colmcille’s in Loughlinstown.