Hospital registrar overtime bills hit €100m

OVERTIME paid to HSE registrars is still costing over €100 million a year, while 15 hospital doctors around the country earned more than €100,000 in overtime alone last year.

In the years since the recession hit — from 2009 to the first half of 2011 — €276.2m has been paid to registrars in overtime.

Compared to €219m for 2008 alone, considerable savings have been achieved, but the overtime bill is still topping €100m annually.