Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Health the actions that have been taken in relation to the consultants who have been identified as being outside the public private ratio specified in their contracts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39119/12]

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Health the number of consultants that are still in breach of the public private ratio specified in their contracts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39120/12]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1824 and 1825 together.

Consultant Contract 2008 limits private practice for newly-appointed consultants on a Type B or C contract to 20% of activity. The upper limit for consultants who held a contract prior to 2008 is 30%. The HSE has put in place arrangements to measure consultants' private practice and to pursue issues of compliance where necessary. The Contract provides for a series of steps to be taken where a consultant exceeds the level of private practice permitted in his or her contract. As of April 2012, a total of 49 Consultants had been identified as being in breach of their permitted public/private practice ratio after the period for this to be addressed, as provided for in the Contract, had elapsed.

In the light of the information emerging from the measurement of public/private practice activity, the HSE engaged with the medical representative bodies and individual consultants to pursue the issue of compliance, with a particular focus on consultants who are significantly in breach of their permitted ratio. There has been a significant improvement in the level of compliance with the private practice rules. In addition, the proposals agreed between health service management and the consultant representative organisations on 17 September include provisions regarding compliance with the contractual requirements regarding private practice These include commitment by consultants to measures that ensure that public patients waiting for elective care of any type are seen within clinically appropriate timeframes and that the entirety of the Consultant’s clinical activity, including in-patient, day-patient and out-patient activity, is within contractual limits.