Consultants put forward practical workable solutions to address the overwhelming public hospital capacity deficits causing unacceptable waiting lists and trolley crisis, at talks with Minister

• Hospital consultants appeal to Minister Harris, at face-to-face talks, to immediately address bed and consultant shortages; 
• Consultants seek Fine Gael and the Minister for Health’s commitment to open 800 public hospital beds within two years and fast-track an additional 2,600 hospital beds by end 2025;
• The Minister for Health must commit to and resource a maximum waiting time of four hours for patients presenting at Emergency Departments to be admitted to an inpatient bed if needed, discharged home or transferred to an appropriate service; 
• The Minister must also commit to and resource a maximum waiting time of 18 weeks following a GP referral for a consultant outpatient appointment and for inpatient/day-case public hospital treatment;
• End failed Government policy of consultant pay discrimination that has caused 500 unfilled permanent consultant posts and added to the misery of one million people waiting for treatment and hundreds languishing on trolleys daily.

IHCA President Dr. Donal O’Hanlon: “At today’s meeting, front line hospital consultants appealed to Minister Harris to put politics aside and patients first, by committing to effective targets to deliver timely care to patients which at least match those in the NHS. The delivery of effective targets will require the implementation of practical workable solutions that the IHCA has recommended for years. 

“The first requirement to provide timely care to the one million people on public hospital waiting lists and the hundreds of patients being treated on trolleys each day is to recruit and retain a sufficient number of permanent hospital consultants. More than anything else, we need to fill the current 500 unfilled permanent hospital consultant posts caused by the Government’s discrimination against new consultants. The discrimination and the consequent consultant shortages are the main contributory factors behind the one million people now waiting for hospital treatment and the hundreds of patients languishing on hospital trolleys each day. 

“Getting highly trained specialist consultants back working in our public hospitals will ensure that hospital patients are treated without unacceptable delays. Fine Gael’s election campaign urges the Irish public to ‘look forward’. But without decisive action now to attract hospital consultants into our health service, one million people waiting for hospital care can’t look forward with hope, but only with continued despair”.

Hospital consultants have appealed to Minister Harris today (Thursday, 16 January 2020) during face-to-face talks, to take decisive action and immediately end consultant pay discrimination. 

Irish Hospital Consultant Association representatives, attending the talks on behalf of over 95% of Ireland’s hospital consultants, urged Minister Harris to end the ongoing consultant pay discrimination with immediate effect, stating it would be a ‘game-changer’ in attracting consultants to work in public hospitals and ensuring patients can access hospital care when they need it. 

In addition to ending pay discrimination, the IHCA has also called on Minister Harris and Fine Gael to:

• Open a further 800 public hospital beds by end 2021 and bring forward the delivery of 2,600 additional beds promised under both the HSE Capacity Review 2018 and the National Development Plan from the current target of 2030 to the more realistic date of 2025;  
• Introduce and resource a maximum waiting time of four hours for patients presenting at Emergency Departments and other public hospital assessment units to be admitted to an inpatient bed if required, discharged home or transferred to a more appropriate service; and 
• Introduce and resource a maximum waiting time of 18 weeks following a GP referral for a consultant outpatient appointment and inpatient/day-case public hospital treatment.

According to consultants, there are currently over 500 unfilled permanent hospital consultant posts across Ireland’s public hospitals. These vacancies are recognised as the root cause of the long waiting times now experienced by patients and the trolley crisis in our public hospitals which is resulting in hundreds of patients being treated on trolleys each day. 

In October 2012, Fine Gael’s then Minister for Health, Dr James Reilly, took the decision to slash the pay of all hospital consultants appointed after that date. The decision to introduce pay discrimination between consultants appointed before and after October 2012 has created a significant pay difference between consultants undertaking the same work in the same hospital at the same time.  For our public hospitals, it has directly led to the failure to fill over 500 permanent hospital consultant posts. 

Over the past seven years, hundreds of highly trained specialist consultants have decided not to practise in our public hospitals and emigrated, resulting in one-in-five of all permanent hospital consultant posts now being unfilled.

Hospital consultants assert that filling these posts is essential to ensuring that public hospitals, across all specialties, have enough hospital consultants to properly staff teams and care for patients.  

If this was achieved, it would ensure that patients on waiting lists would get timely access to a consultant - being seen in weeks rather than in months or years as is currently the case. In addition to filling these posts, consultants want a commitment to introduce and resource maximum waiting times in our Emergency Departments and for patients referred for treatment to a Consultant by their GP. 

Crucially, increased bed capacity in our hospitals is also essential to ensuring patients receive high quality, timely hospital care. Consultants believe that the current Government timeline of 2030 to deliver thousands of additional beds which are needed urgently must be accelerated and fully delivered during the lifetime of the next Government.

IHCA President Dr Donal O’Hanlon commented: 

“At today’s meeting, front line hospital consultants appealed to Minister Harris to put politics aside and patients first, by committing to effective targets to deliver timely care to patients which at least match those in the NHS. The delivery of effective targets will require the implementation of practical workable solutions that the IHCA has recommended for years. 

“The first requirement to provide timely care to the one million people on public hospital waiting lists and the hundreds of patients being treated on trolleys each day is to recruit and retain a sufficient number of permanent hospital consultants. More than anything else, we need to fill the current 500 unfilled permanent hospital consultant posts caused by the Government’s discrimination against new consultants. The discrimination and the consequent consultant shortages are the main contributory factors behind the one million people now waiting for hospital treatment and the hundreds of patients languishing on hospital trolleys each day. 

“Patients have endured the adverse and severe impact of the Government’s 2012 decision, which has driven hospital consultants away from our public hospitals to practise abroad and in private hospitals.  

“For outpatients waiting to see a consultant - over 550,000 in total; the 66,000 patients waiting for inpatient and day-case treatment; and, the hundreds of thousands waiting for diagnostics such as scans and MRIs, the devastating impact of consultant shortages over the past five years is evident to all.

“Getting highly trained specialist consultants back working in our public hospitals will ensure that hospital patients are treated without unacceptable delays. Fine Gael’s election campaign urges the Irish public to ‘look forward’. But without decisive action now to attract hospital consultants into our health service, one million people waiting for hospital care can’t look forward with hope, but only with continued despair.”

ENDS. 

Media Contacts:

Barry Murphy │ barry@pr360.ie │ 087 266 9878
Lauren Murphy │ lauren@pr360.ie │ 083 801 5917