Hundreds of hospital consultants are not abiding by the terms of their new contracts, the Committee of Public Accounts has heard.
The committee met HSE chief executive Prof Brendan Drumm, the Department of Health secretary general Michael Scanlan and their officials today to hear about progress in implementing the contracts. They set strict limits on the numbers of private patients permitted to be treated by consultants working in public hospitals.
However, the committee heard that 85 consultants had been formally written to because they had been exceeding the ratio of private to public patients under their contracts.
The ratio of public to private patients treated in public hospitals should be 70:30 or 80:20, depending on the type of contract held.
Prof Drumm said "a lot more" consultants would be contacted in the coming months because they have been treating too many private patients.
He said hundreds of consultants were involved but pointed to strict sanctions for consultants who break the terms of their contracts. If consultants do not take action within a certain period of time, they face forfeiting their fees for the additional private patients.
The committee also heard that €376 million has been lost to the State because charges for private care were not recouped when private patients were placed in public beds.
Fianna Fáil deputy Michael McGrath raised the question and said: "Taxpayers are paying a subsidy of up to €400 million in respect of private patients in the public hospitals system- that's the bottom line."
Committee chairman Bernard Allen said public beds were being blocked by private patients "because the consultant is getting paid anyway. The public hospital isn't getting paid. The taxpayer is suffering and the public patient is suffering."
