Mr. Barry O'Brien:

The Chair asked whether we provide a good career structure in this country. As I noted earlier, we never had more consultants in posts and from a salary perspective we are certainly top of the scale in Europe in attractive remuneration packages. We also offer the capacity for both public and private patients to be cared for in our public health system. All of this is within the contractual arrangements for consultants, which has to be attractive from the point of view of career development.

On the question of who is responsible for rosters, we have invested heavily in medical manpower managers over the past ten years and there is one such manager in every major hospital. Together with the consultants, they are responsible for developing NCHD rosters. Obviously, the consultant will sign off on the hours worked, be they rostered or unrostered, and on that basis we have sent out a circular to each hospital directing that hours worked must be paid for once they are appropriately approved by the relevant consultant.