Only 10 accident and emergency consultant posts out of 25 new positions announced last year have been filled.
The 25 new positions, put forward last autumn as a solution to the winter bed crisis by the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, have still not been approved as permanent positions by Comhairle na nOispideal.
The recruitment for the temporary positions, which have been approved for an initial 12month period only, started in January-February this year. The latest figures also show that a number of positions remain unfilled even after interviews were held.
Accident and emergency consultant posts in Sligo, Waterford and Tallaght hospitals have not been filled after the recent completion of the interviewing and recruitment process.
No candidate was appointed to a post in James Connolly Memorial Hospital in Blanchardstown despite recent figures which showed a 9 per cent increase in attendances at the accident and emergency unit du ring the first five months of this year. The hospital has one permanent accident and emergency consultant.
According to Dr Peter O'Connor, accident and emergency consultant in the Mater Hospital, each hospital needs a minimum of three consultant posts to function effectively.
"Going from one to two consultants achieves, at best, 10 hours' additional working time when administrative, on-call and other duties are taken into account," he said.
Dr O'Connor will be joined by a second full-time permanent consultant in October. The Irish Times understands that the principal reason for the difficulty in filling the accident and emergency consultant posts is the temporary nature of the positions.
Doctors who hold permanent posts in Britain and elsewhere are not prepared to jeopardise their careers by moving to positions in the Republic which offer a maximum contract of 12 months.
According to Mr Finbar Fitzpatrick, secretary general of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association, it may be 2003 before these posts are permanently filled.
In its most recent annual report, Comhairle na nOspideal noted that it took, on average, one year to fill a permanent consultant post in a voluntary hospital and about 18 months for a health board consultant vacancy, after the position has been formally approved.
