Consultants to be offered €250,000 to treat only public patients

Hospital consultants who agree to only treat public patients – and forego private practice – will be offered a salary of €250,000, it emerged today.

The offer of a new public-only contract will be available to newly recruited doctors or existing consultants who want to switch, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said today.

He said the salary scale under the proposed contract for the new public-only posts would range from €180,000 to €220,000 now, increasing to €250,000 next year.

The number of consultants who currently confine their practice to just public patients only is quite small and most opt for a contract which allows them treat fee paying private patients.

Please log in or register with Independent.ie for free access to this article.

Log In

New to Independent.ie? Create an account

The Government aims to remove private practice from public hospitals over the coming decade but it is likely to be difficult to persuade existing consultants to give up their fee paying patients.

His comments come as Health Minister Simon Harris and Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohue are set to unveil a package to avert a dispute by doctors in the New Year.

The dispute involves hospital consultants recruited since 2012 who are paid €50,000 less than long serving colleagues.

The Irish Medical Organisation announced a ballot yesterday with a 94pc majority of consultants and junior doctors in favour of industrial action from early next year due to the Government’s failure to address the pay gap.

This contract can include private practice in a public hospital or practice in private hospitals.

Source: Read Full Article