David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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341. To ask the Minister for Health when he will implement a public-only consultant contract; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61589/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I am pleased to confirm that the Government has now approved the public-only hospital consultant contract. The contract reflects extensive engagement between the Department of Health (DoH), the Health Service Executive (HSE), the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) and the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA). The representative bodies will now consider the proposals through their respective processes.

Implementation of the contract will result in the removal of private care from public hospitals and ensure that patients receive care on the basis of need rather than ability to pay within the public system. It will also support the delivery of care over an extended day Monday to Friday and on Saturdays with consultants present and delivering patient care when demand is highest. 

The terms of the contract will also help us recruit more consultants. While we now employ 3,800 consultants in the public system, an increase of 1,300 over the last 10 years, we want to continue to build our consultant numbers to provide a better-quality service for patients, and to improve the work life balance of consultants.