Over half of consultants sign public-only contract

More than half of hospital consultants have now signed up to the new public contract, an Oireachtas committee has heard.

As of 2 May, 2,229 consultants have signed up to the public-only contract, HSE COO Damien McCallion said.

This is an increase of about 300 in the past two months, as the figure at the start of March was 1,923.

There are currently 4,258 consultants, Whole Time Equivalents (WTEs), currently working in the public health service, according to Government figures.

The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health also heard that there were 4.2% more out-patient appointments delivered in the first quarter of 2024 as compared to 2023.

Tony Canavan, the HSE’s Regional Executive Officer for the West North West, said that “thankfully the situation” at University Hospital Galway “has improved slightly today relative to yesterday” when it was the second most overcrowded hospital in the country, after UHL.

However, he said that any patient having to wait on a trolley is a matter of “significant concern”.

Mr Canavan also told the committee that there have been improvements at University Hospital Galway over the past six months.

Meanwhile, spending on health is running €500m ahead of budget, General Secretary of the Department of Health Robert Watt said.

He told the committee that most of this is being spend on acute services, with “75% in the acute side”.

Sinn Féin’s health spokesperson David Cullinane suggested that it is “a racing certainty that we will have supplementary estimates in health”.

“Yes, we will have a supplementary estimate by the end of the year,” Mr Watt confirmed.

“Will it be close to €1 billion?” Deputy Cullinane asked.

Mr Watt said that the department is doing all it can “to mitigate the challenges” while maintaining services.

This involves “managing this trade-off between very significant demands increasing, while we have a budget which is constrained”.

Deputy Cullinane said that the budget for this year was “grossly underestimated” and criticised the Government for adopting “a very poor way to fund a health service”.