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.

At Cork University Hospital, the largest acute hospital in the south, just half of consultants complied with private practice limits. The rate was slightly lower at the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital.

At the Mid-West Maternity Hospital in Limerick, just one in five consultants adhered to private practice restrictions, and just 14.29% complied at Croom Orthopaedic Hospital.

At Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, just over half of consultants met the requirements.

Consultants have been warned that failure to comply with private practice restrictions will result in either the facilities for the excess private practice being removed or the consultant will be required to remit the private practice fees in respect of this activity to the hospital research and study fund.

The HSE report says consultants will have up to nine months to redress breaches of contract before penalties kick in. However, an Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) spokesperson said the fact that the HSE had closed between 800 and 900 public beds, thereby reducing the throughput of public patients in hospitals, rendered the figures contained in its report meaningless. He said this was the “biggest driver” in terms of the number of public/private patients a consultant treated.

“The second thing to point out is that it is the patient’s choice whether they wish to be treated as a public or private patient.”