Saolta slammed for ‘failing to keep eye’ on consultants

A Galway City councillor has accused public hospital management of still failing to monitor consultants to ensure they did their contracted public work even though a media investigation revealed one local medic worked nearly one third less than he was obliged to.

At this week’s Regional Health Forum West meeting, Fine Gael’s Padraig Conneely demanded to know what sanctions had been imposed on the consultant who had worked 13 hours on average a week even though he was paid to work 37 hours under his contract.

The RTÉ Prime Time investigation which examined the work of 36 consultants at Galway University Hospitals and found that 80% were engaging in private work which exceeded what was allowed under their contracts.

Most consultants are supposed to adhere to an 80% public patient and 20% private patient breakdown. The investigation found that 15 consultants in Galway worked just a day-and-a-half per week in the public system.

“Have you spoken to that consultant? Have you spoken to other consultants. He’s not the only one. Can I name the consultant? Everyone seems to know his name. You say the management of compliance is a continuing process but who is managing compliance? The compliance is simply not there. Have you got the money back?”

Saolta Hospital Group CEO Maurice Power told the meeting said the vast majority of consultants – 98% – are compliant with their public/private ratios as stipulated under their contracts.

He stated that consultants are continually monitored and he sees the statistics across his desk on a monthly basis.

“87% of activity across the group is public work,” he stated.

Cllr Conneely said this did not reflect the reality on the ground. The consultant found to have worked just 13 hours a week had been observed for eight weeks.

So instead of working eight weeks, the consultant worked the equivalent of three weeks and based on HSE salary scales, he was paid more than €14,000 for work he did not do.

The 2008 Hospital Consultants’ Contract provided significant pay increases in return for consultants agreeing to limit their private practice. Under the deal, most consultants are contracted to work between 37 and 39 hours per week in the public system.

Galway’s two city hospital has 234 consultants; just 6% are totally dedicated to public patients. A further 27% are ‘Type B’ – consultants who can have private practice but in a public hospital only.