Mr. Paul Reid:

I may call on the chief accounting officer when I am finished. On the issue of pay, I will restate my own position. Having spoken directly with consultants and the consultants' association, there is no doubt that this is an issue of equity which is capable of causing an issue of morale. It is also an issue of recruitment and, equally, of retention. People are having different experiences when they go elsewhere. Having said that, the second point I want to make is that I have spent a lot of time with the chief clinical officer in direct engagement with consultants across the acute system. I agree that we need their goodwill and that we need to hear their voices and the issues they are raising with regard to service delivery.

There is fairly regular direct engagement between clinical directors and consultants across the system.

There are significant vacancies throughout the country. The Minister referred to 39 such vacancies. There have been 144 in the past 12 months by my count. There are 78 recruits in the final stages of assignment, which should further enhance recruitment numbers. There are approximately 377 posts vacant across various disciplines. Some people claim there are approximately 500 such vacancies but the registered number is approximately 377. We have several initiatives for consultants led by our national doctors training and development unit, which is looking at what we can do to attract applicants to certain specific disciplines.

On the Deputy's final comment, we must address some work practice issues apart from pay as part of a process of engagement with consultants. There are significant challenges attracting consultants to certain elements of the acute system. That is a factor with which we will deal regardless of whether the pay issue is settled. These are challenges in certain acute settings. The committee has a list of them.