Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and giving us the opportunity to provide an update to the House. The cardiology department in University Hospital Kerry, UHK, performs a variety of testing on the heart such as electrocardiogram, echocardiogram, stress testing, Holter and blood pressure monitoring and pacemaker checks. It is important to note that, consistent with the recommendations in the national acute medicine clinical programme for model 3 hospitals such as University Hospital Kerry, patients with acute coronary syndrome are transferred to the primary coronary intervention centre in University Hospital Limerick. Cork University Hospital, CUH, is the tertiary referral centre for more complex cardiology patients.

In respect of the Deputy's specific query regarding the status of additional cardiologist positions for UHK, in June 2018, the South/South West hospital group advised that it was developing a business case for the appointment of two consultant cardiologist positions split between UHK and CUH. I am pleased to advise the Deputy that both posts are now awaiting approval by the HSE's consultant appointment advisory committee and, once approved, the advertisement of these posts can commence immediately.

With regard to the wider issue of consultant appointments in general, the Government remains committed to increasing the consultant workforce to support service delivery and to move to a consultant delivered service. While there are approximately 450 consultant posts that are not filled on a permanent basis and are filled by locums or temporary staff to support the delivery of essential services, the number of consultants has increased by 125 in the 12 months to the end December 2018 and by 540 in the past five years. At the end of December 2018, there were 3,096 whole-time equivalent consultants working in the public health services, the highest number in the history of the State.

The HSE is also committed to supporting consultant recruitment and retention, pursuing a number of initiatives, including improvements to the recruitment process, offering contracts to the hospital group rather than individual sites and focusing on family friendly arrangements. It has established a tripartite working group, including the Medical Council, the forum of postgraduate medical training bodies and the national doctors training and planning unit of the HSE to examine posts where the consultants are not on the specialist register as well as recruitment and retention challenges.

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