Consultants must ponder Harney hint

THERE was a subliminal message for hospital consultants contained in the statement from Tánaiste and Health Minister Mary Harney when she said chief executives should be the best-paid people in hospitals.

Currently, the latter are paid in the region of €130,000, which in many cases is nowhere near the earnings league many of the medical consultants occupy.

Mary Harney would appear to want this to change, according to an interview she gave to the Sunday Business Post, in which she more than hinted that the Government may abandon plans to establish a new common contract and even allow hospitals to engage hundreds of new consultants on a localised basis.