Health service must not be held to ransom by powerful, wealthy clique

IT’S increasingly difficult not to see hospital consultants as arrogant and greedy professionals with a stranglehold on the health service and a willingness to hold hostage the most vulnerable members of our community — those in need of hospital care.

If press reports are to be believed, the new public-only contract proposed by the HSE will carry a salary of €200,000 + per annum, while junior hospital doctors are currently earning up to €100,000 per annum in overtime alone.

The Government routinely defends its performance on health by highlighting the additional billions spent over the past decade. It’s now clear to the ordinary taxpayer that the main result of this largesse is to make budding millionaires of far too many medical practitioners.

The Government needs to take decisive action as the country’s health service cannot continue to be held to ransom by this powerful, wealthy clique.

A good starting point might be a name-and-shame policy: publish a league table of consultants showing relevant information such as number of patients seen, procedures carried out, public salary, etc. The HSE should push through the proposed public-only contract and appoint consultants with or without the cooperation of the existing clique. Following appropriate warnings, any non-cooperation should be deemed a breach of contract and used as the basis for termination and renegotiation as follows: 50% of salary for attendance in the public hospital for 40 hours per week, with the other 50% dependent on achievement of annual targets, eg, number of patients seen, number of procedures performed, etc.

If a significant portion of salary was dependent on output, the hospital administrator’s door would be beaten down by consultants with proposals as to how to see more patients, maximise use of operating theatres, etc.

Peter Molloy

9 Haddington Park

Glenageary

Co Dublin