Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----and would be on a division of the Medical Council register. They are also fully qualified to practise medicine.

At a national level, health policy remains the development of a consultant provided service as per the report of the national task force on medical staffing, the Hanly report, and the reports of the strategic review of medical training and career structures, that is, the MacCraith reports of 2013 and 2014. The HSE has also been focused on improving the recruitment and appointment process for consultant posts. A high-level committee, appointed by the director general of the HSE, was tasked with analysing the current operational and administrative barriers to the efficient creation, approval of and recruitment to consultant posts in 2016. Having reviewed processes around successful consultant recruitment, 33 findings were identified and related actions for implementation developed. These are set out in a HSE document entitled Towards Successful Consultant Recruitment, Appointment and Retention, which was published in February 2017.

One of the findings of the committee specifically relates to this issue of providing services by those who are appropriately qualified. The finding stated that the HSE should ensure that "measures are adopted to cease the poor employment practice which gives rise to contracts of indefinite duration and risk to the public arising from provision of services by persons who are not appropriately qualified". It also set out a series of actions the HSE should take to address this issue. These require the HSE to review the extent to which permanent posts have been created or filled in breach of appropriate sanction; to act as a matter of urgency to enforce existing regulatory requirements; and that sanctions are implemented for non-compliance with qualifications. The executive should also clarify the scope of practice of the individuals referenced above and related designation as "consultants". It should also work with the Department of Health, the Medical Council and representative bodies to examine the use of the term "consultant" in regard to the specialist division. The timeline given for carrying out these actions is by the end of June 2017. The Minister, Deputy Harris, is confident that once these actions are implemented, they will help to address the issues raised by the Deputy.

I will conclude by noting that the number of consultants employed by the HSE at the end of March 2017 now stands at 2,881. That is an increase of an additional 122 whole-time equivalent posts since March 2016. It is also an increase of almost 700 in the past decade. I can assure the Deputy that the Government remains committed to continuing to increase the number of consultants and to the delivery of a consultant-led service.

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