Row over public consultants at private hospital

A row over whether hospital consultants contracted to work in the public service should be allowed to continue working in a private facility is headed for the courts.

St Vincent’s Healthcare Group has rejected the HSE’s position that under the terms of the 2008 Consultants’ Contract, they are not permitted to work in St Vincent’s Private Hospital.

It has emerged that dozens of consultants in the group work in its public and private hospitals, despite SVHG implying that just a handful were engaged in the practice “in rare and exceptional circumstances”.