Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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4. To ask the Minister for Health the status of the Sláintecare consultant contract negotiations; the rationale for not appointing a new independent chair; the timeline that he is now working towards for the introduction of a new contract; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27163/22]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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I am yet again raising the issue of the consultant contract. If the Minister is serious about tackling the inordinate waiting lists in hospitals and getting our health service to function properly, we must recruit consultants. It is now five months since the independent chair had to withdraw from her role in the talks. What are the plans? Why has she not been replaced? What is the timescale to which the Minister is now working?

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Government, as provided for in the programme for Government, is committed to introducing the new public-only consultant contract. I want to do so in a timely manner. A new consultant contract, as I know the Deputy will agree, is one of the important steps towards universal, single-tier healthcare, with public hospitals exclusively used for the treatment of public patients. That is the cornerstone of the contract from the State's perspective.

Last July, terms of reference were agreed with the representative bodies. There were several months of talks with an independent chair. My Department, in conjunction with the HSE, engaged with the representative bodies, the Irish Medical Organisation, IMO, and the Irish Hospital Consultants Association, IHCA, on the new contract last autumn. As the Deputy will be aware, those talks continued until Christmas. The chair was appointed to the High Court and had to go.

My preference is that the new contract will be introduced following negotiation and agreement. My strong preference is that this is an agreed contract. I am committed to recommencing the talks very soon under a new independent chair. I recently met with the IHCA and the IMO about the talks and their parameters, and some of the key issues around the talks, with a view to getting all the groups back into a room. We do not have a set date for the talks to reconvene but my hope is that it will happen very soon. It is my intention and that of the Government to have this contract in place this year.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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I must remind the Minister that he said at the IHCA conference several months ago that he wanted the contract finalised within weeks. He said in reply to a number of parliamentary questions over the past six months that his timeframe was a number of weeks. There has been considerable slippage and one must question if the Minister is serious about this.

There is a point I wish to make. The Minister is negotiating with people who are already in posts and are operating under different arrangements entirely. When I raised this issue with the Minister a number of months ago, I asked him to meet with the hospital doctor retention and motivation project, led by Dr. Niamh Humphries. Representatives of the group were before the Joint Committee on Health. They have done incredibly important and interesting research on why it is that so many of our doctors leave these shores and go to work elsewhere. As far as I know, the Minister has not met the representatives of that group. Perhaps I am wrong on that and I hope I am. Has he considered the points that group is raising about the reasons people are leaving and the kind of new contract we need?

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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As it happens, I met Dr. Humphries and her associate on Monday or Tuesday. As the Deputy is aware, they have done five years' work on this. They have focused their work specifically on Australia but I fully agree that the matters are intrinsically linked. A root-and-branch reform of the non-consultant hospital doctor, NCHD, pathway is needed. The current pathway for NCHDs is not acceptable and we should not be surprised that too many of them elect to go to Australia, New Zealand or Canada. There is a whole piece of work we are doing with the Department and the HSE. I have met several groups of NCHDs. When I speak to them about the job, one of the first things they reference is the new contract. They want to know that when they finish what is a very tough training scheme, a new contract will be there. They are intrinsically linked. The Deputy can be assured that I and the Government are fully committed to getting this contract in place. A lot of informal work has been going on about the talks. The Deputy will appreciate the details of that are confidential. I fully accept the two issues are linked.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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Unfortunately, I do not get a great sense of urgency from the Minister. What we know about the new consultant contract sounds attractive and would be attractive to all of those many doctors who have left these shores. What they are looking for, first and foremost, is a proper work-life balance. They are looking for respect in their job, which, unfortunately, they have not had during their training period. They are looking for part-time work, especially for women. They are looking for that kind of flexibility. Most of all, they are looking for a system that works and serves patients and for which they do not have to apologise.

They want to be confident that the Government is serious about reform. The Minister needs to progress this very quickly. He needs to tackle the attitude within the HSE at the start of these talks, where there was talk of preventing doctors and consultants from advocating for their patients. There is a need for respect and a catch-up in respect for newly trained doctors because they have been treated so badly in the system that is there at the moment. There is a real urgency about this and the Minister needs to move on it because the health service cannot wait any longer.

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I agree with everything the Deputy said other than her point about a sense of urgency. If I am not conveying a sense of urgency here, I can assure her that the groups involved, including the Department, are very aware that there is a sense of urgency. We are moving on this as a priority and we are doing two things at the same time. We are looking at the NCHD contract, at the six to ten years that they are with us but separately to that, we are moving on the contract. Obviously they are linked but they are separate pieces of work.

It is my absolute and very clear intention, and all of the stakeholders involved know this, that we will have a new consultant contract in place this year. That contract will be public-only in public hospitals. That is a cornerstone of everything we are doing. I fully agree with Deputy Shortall that it must be attractive to our existing consultant cohort, to those abroad who we want to come home and to the NCHDs coming through so that Ireland is seen as one of the best places in the English-speaking world for doctors to work.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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We will go back to Question No. 2 and Deputy Duncan Smith.