Consultants meet with Departments of Health, Public Expenditure and HSE on practical solutions to the hospital crisis

• Meeting between Department of Health, Department of Public Expenditure and HSE officials and Irish Hospital Consultants Association representatives took place today in Dublin;
• With one million people currently waiting for an appointment with a hospital consultant, talks explored a number of key issues including the  record waiting lists, patient safety issues and the deteriorating consultant recruitment and retention crisis;
• IHCA set out several practical ways to improve conditions for patients across public hospitals and reduce the unacceptable delays in providing hospital care to those who need it;
• The escalating crisis demands practical solutions that will work.

IHCA President, Dr Donal O’Hanlon said: “Today was an important first step in discussing practical solutions that can be implemented without delay to prevent further suffering for those waiting far too long for hospital care. Our 3,000 hospital consultant members are challenged on a daily basis with the shocking implications for patients as a result of the deteriorating consultant recruitment and retention crisis which has resulted in 500 unfilled permanent consultant posts across our public hospitals. Consultants are acutely aware that in order to ensure that all patients have access to timely, safe care it is essential to have these posts filled urgently.” 

Officials from the Departments of Health, and Public Expenditure and the HSE met with representatives of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA), which represents more than 3,000 hospital consultants, today (Wednesday, 6 November) to address the deteriorating consultant recruitment and retention crisis and measures to improve conditions for patients across our acute public hospital and mental health services.  

The extent of the unfilled permanent consultant posts, with one in five now unfilled, is having a devastating impact on patient access to care, with one million people now on waiting lists for public hospitals, and many people waiting months or years for their first consultant appointment.

Coupled with the current bed deficits, the shortage of consultants is a key factor not only in the huge number of people on waiting lists but also on the number of patients waiting on trolleys. On Tuesday, 679 patients, the highest in 2019 to date, were being treated on trolleys across our acute public hospitals.

At today’s meeting the IHCA presented several proposals, which it believes can make a significant impact in improving conditions for patients. These include:

• Delivery of better care to patients: Improve governance standards in all public hospitals by ensuring that hospital management is held accountable for clinical concerns raised by consultants and that they act to address these concerns, thus preventing further adverse incidents occurring. This must include an independent hospital governance committee at each hospital, in addition to a hospital board which includes a practising hospital consultant;
• An agreed and uniform level of hospital treatment and care for all patients nationally, irrespective of the hospital:  Introduce National Standardised Pathways of Treatment and Care so that all patients, irrespective of the public hospital they are being treated in, receive an equal and uniform high standard of care and treatment. Currently, without a single national standard this can vary from hospital to hospital.  
• Encourage consultants to come back to work in the Irish health service: Resolve the consultant recruitment crisis by ending the existing pay inequity imposed on consultants appointed since October 2012. This was recommended by the Public Service Pay Commission in 2018 to address the general difficulty in recruiting hospital consultants;

• Unlock savings through cost effective hospital resourcing: The cost of delivering public healthcare has grown in recent years. However, by filling the vacant permanent consultant posts, more cost-effective hospital care can be delivered due to savings on agency, NTPF and patient adverse outcome claims which have increased by hundreds of millions of euro in recent years.

IHCA President, Dr Donal O’Hanlon commented after the meeting:

“Today’s meeting with the Departments of Health, Public Expenditure and HSE provided an opportunity for the identification of real solutions that will end the consultant recruitment crisis, address our long waiting lists and improve access to care for patients.

“These are practical solutions identified by hospital consultants that would effectively resolve the recruitment crisis, which now need to be prioritised. Each day that the crisis remains unresolved, 200 additional people join the one million already languishing on hospital waiting lists.

“A commitment by all to resolve the deteriorating consultant recruitment crisis which has resulted in 500 unfilled permanent consultant posts across our acute public hospitals is now essential.

“Our Association, which represents over 3,000 hospital consultants, recognises how crucial it is for our patients and their long-term health outcomes to fill these posts. 

“In addition to discussing how we can end the consultant recruitment crisis, we also set out several proposals today which, if implemented, have the capacity to enhance access and the quality of hospital care which patients receive.

“These include key areas such as introducing standardised care across hospitals; better governance to ensure that when clinical risks emerge they are acknowledged and quickly acted upon; and, more cost effective measures are put in place to provide timely, safe care for patients.  

“With one million people waiting to access hospital care and record numbers being treated on trolleys just as the winter season begins in earnest, we need to make progress on these practical solutions urgently.’’

ENDS

For further information, contact:

Amanda Glancy, PR360: amanda@pr360.ie / 01 637 1777 / 087 227 3108