Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this issue. I am replying on behalf of the Minister for Health.

The position is that there are 2,427 approved consultant permanent posts and 201 temporary posts. I am informed by the HSE that there are 392 other approved posts. The current status of these posts has not been reported at this time but it is expected shortly. It points out that this does not mean that those posts are vacant, particularly in the case of specialist and critical posts. Those posts are often filled by locum or agency doctors.

There are very considerable challenges in recruiting consultants at present, and Senator Colm Burke has made that clear. This is due to worldwide shortages and international competition. At the same time there is steady progress in expanding the consultant workforce. It has been increased by 1,000 since 2004. In the last 12 months there were 120 added, and the previous year there were 94 additional consultants. There is a continual process of recruitment and expanding of the consultant base, and indeed during the crash years the embargo which was in place did not apply to consultants. The baseline has increased. The number of non-consultant hospital doctors has also increased by 1,000 posts in the last two years.

To try and deal with the issue of recruitment, a consultant recruitment committee has been established which has focused on trying to streamline the process. A simplified application form is in place, and there is a simplified and individualised induction programme. The evidence from the group is that the number of vacant consultant posts is gradually reducing, but with the desire to expand there are more posts being advertised. To facilitate better movement an esystem has been developed to improve the quality of information available regarding consultant posts and consultants employed in the health service, and each clinical site has had training as to how to match consultants employed at their sites to the posts to try and make this a more effective process.

The final piece of the jigsaw is that the group chaired by Professor Brian MacCraith of DCU was established to carry out a strategic review of medical training and career structures and to examine and make high-level recommendations relating to training and career pathways for doctors in response to recruitment and retention challenges, both in non-consultant hospital doctors, NCHDs, and at consultant level. That group made 25 recommendations in June 2014, and those are being pursued. There is an implementation group, with a monitoring group established to oversee that. A careers and training website has been launched. The majority of training programmes now offer pre-defined rotations of at least two years. Revised pay rates for new entrants were sanctioned in 2015, substantially reversing the 30% cut imposed in 2012.

The issue of pay is a wider one and applies beyond the health sector, and the Senator will know that the Public Service Pay Commission identified staffing shortages as reported in submissions from the health sector. The commission noted in its report that there are recruitment problems in specialist groups, including groups that are internationally in demand, such as consultants. It has recommended that consideration be given to commissioning a more comprehensive examination of underlying difficulties in recruitment and retention in those sectors and employment streams where difficulties are clearly evident. This exercise is due to be completed by the end of 2018.

The Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, is satisfied that the HSE is focused on filling all consultant posts and doing so in an efficient and effective manner. The full implementation of the consultant recruitment group will achieve this.