Employment row: A hospital consultant in the north east region has been told by his local Health Service Executive to stay at home on full pay because the executive claims it has no work for him at the moment.
The move has resulted in the Health Service Executive North East Region (formerly the North Eastern Health Board) being accused of wasting scarce healthcare resources.
The doctor in this case was told on January 13th to stay at home on full pay until the health board found an alternative job for him.
The Irish Times understands that the doctor, who had worked as a locum consultant at a hospital in the north east for more than four years, has written to the health board expressing concern at what has happened.
He argued he should not have been "laid off" and that the board could not at a whim send him to an alternative location given the length of time he has already spent in the hospital concerned.
Furthermore under the Protection of Employees (Fixed Term Work) Act 2003 employees in all workplaces, not just hospitals, must be made permanent by their employer if they have been in their employment for more than four years.
There had been no questions over the doctor's workmanship and he is now waiting for his case to be heard by a Rights Commissioner.
When contacted yesterday the doctor said he believed he should have been made permanent at the hospital where he worked under current legislation but he did not wish to comment further.
Asked to comment on why it was paying a consultant to sit at home doing nothing, the HSE North East Region said it had no comment to make.
Dr Liam Twomey, Fine Gael's health spokesman, said there should be lots of work for the doctor to do.
"It's not like there are no waiting lists in the north east region," he said.
"It's not acceptable that the North Eastern Health Board would shrug its shoulders and not explain what is going on to patients waiting for treatment, to the doctor and to the taxpayer who is paying for all this. It must make a clear and unambiguous statement on what is going on now," he added.
He also referred to the fact that two surgeons, Liam Joyce and Pawan Rajpal, suspended over "interpersonal difficulties" from Cavan General Hospital in August 2003, and reinstated by the Tánaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney in December, were also being paid by the health board.
However, a formula had not yet been agreed for them to return to work, Dr Twomey said.
News of a consultant in the north east being paid to sit at home comes only days after a newly-appointed surgeon in the midlands claimed he was being overpaid by the State.
Mr Sean Johnston who works at the Midlands Regional Hospital in Tullamore said he did not have enough patients to fill his lists but despite this he was paid "an awful lot of money".
Consultants are paid an average of €150,000 a year.