Dr. Gabrielle Colleran:

Senator Kyne asked about the empty posts. We currently have 728 consultant posts that are not filled on a permanent basis, which is 20% of our current consultant numbers. The national doctors training programme estimates that we need to increase the number of acute hospital consultants by 51% by 2028. It is critical that we not only fill those posts, but then recruit another 50%. Those calculations are all pre-pandemic and, as we all know, the 840,000 people waiting for care is only growing. The Senator asked what would help to fix it. The reality is that for many of my peers, with whom I have considerable contact in my role, the 2012 decision makes working abroad more attractive. It is simple as that. As long as we are paying two people differently for doing the same work, people who are away will not come home.

Members of the committee, as public representatives, need to see that there is value for money and that people are delivering the care. That is something we are doing every day. If we look to what we have shown in the past year, the leadership, the innovation, the agility, the commitment shown by our members, we have shown what is possible and how we can turn around how we deliver care during a pandemic. Where people previously thought that the health service could not change and could not be agile, that has all been turned on its head. It has been down to the local teams and the local services, the doctors, nurses, the health and social care professionals, and the porters. All of us working together have delivered for patients.

As long as we have the 2012 cut and a 30% pay differential, we will continue to have trouble filling those 728 or 1,100 or 650 posts. The Senator is right; it is not just pay but also conditions. People have too much call and too much workload. They are filling the gap for the consultants who are not in post. It all fills in together and ultimately it is our patients, particularly our poorest and most disadvantaged patients, who are affected most.