Consultants turn down 'untenable' pay offer from Govt

Consultants have slapped down an offer from the Government to improve their pay by demanding better conditions and restoration of wages across the board.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in the Dáil promised to increase pay for health consultants if they agree to operate in the public care system only and avoid private practice.

He committed to giving consultants “pay equality”.

The move forms part of the Government's ambition to decouple private and public care, a move the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) has warned could see an exodus of doctors as well as a loss of hundreds of millions of euro for the Exchequer.

Furthermore, it is estimated that a limited number, possibly as little as 6% of consultants, currently have a contract solely for public care.

Mr Varadkar said he and Health Minister Simon Harris are willing to make the type A contract offer to consultants and that this was "the first step" to separating out the two systems of care.

“I hope they are for it,” he told the chamber.

The comments came during a debate about treatment waiting lists for children.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin highlighted how some 214,000 children are now waiting for treatment and procedures and therapies.

This includes 117,000 for hospital treatment and 19,000 for primary care. More than a quarter of these children are waiting in excess of a year for care, he told the Dáil.

He highlighted long waiting lists for speech and language therapy, for ear, nose and throat care, for dermatology as well as unfilled posts for radiography.

However, Mr Varadkar responded by saying that waiting lists for outpatient appointments have fallen for several months in a row, while outpatient appointments have been reduced by a third in around two years to 38,000.

General paediatric care waits are also down by a third, he told the Dáil, while delays for child and adolescent mental health services had reduced.

Mr Varadkar argued that it had taken “years to reverse the damage done” to health services.

But consultants have rejected the government offer. The Irish Medical Organisation, in a statement to the Irish Examiner, said: “The Taoiseach and Minister for Health must take responsibility for a Fine Gael policy that cut the pay of consultants appointed since 2012 by 30%.

No other public service workers faced this kind of discrimination.

"The Taoiseach can’t now change the game by talking about resolving this awful discrimination for some consultants but not for others.

"We’ll talk reform when the pay gap for all consultants has been ended.”

The IHCA also said the offer was “untenable” without a commitment to restore services in hospitals as well as movement on filling hundreds of consultant posts.