Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

I understand two consultants have been recruited at the moment. I have seen the publicity surrounding the issue of neurology. I have equally seen the correspondence from Professor Drumm. If we want to talk about the number of neurologists we have, we must also consider the number of junior doctors we have. We have an unprecedented number of non-consultant hospital doctors in neurology compared with anywhere else in the world. We also need to consider the performance in the different hospitals. Professor Drumm recently showed me that in some hospitals, consultants in neurology were seeing 80 or 90 new patients a month and in others it was down to 20 to 22. I will send the Deputy a copy of the correspondence which will inform him.

We have more than 7,000 hospital doctors. By any standard that is a large number. The challenge for us is to switch it from non-consultant doctors to consultants. We are awaiting a new contract with very different employment terms, which I am happy to say is virtually finalised and over the coming days we will be able to make final decisions in that regard. It will fundamentally change the way consultants work and make it much easier for us to make it affordable to get new consultants because we will be able to reduce the dependency on non-consultant hospital doctors, of which we currently have 4,900. I believe a subsequent question deals with the matter.

Regarding surgery, my brief informs me that we have 13. I do not know how many there are in Northern Ireland. Since Professor Phillips completed his study, the facility in Cork only commenced in 2003, which has resulted in a major improvement in the service in Cork. I do not take away from the fact that there are still pressure points. I accept that.

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