AS FEW as 20 per cent of consultants in some hospitals have been adhering strictly to the limits set on private practice levels under their contract, according to a new report delivered to the Department of Health.
The report on consultants' private practice drawn up by the HSE found the largest levels of non-compliance with the private practice ceilings for in-patient admissions were in St John's Hospital and Croom Orthopaedic Hospital, both in Limerick.
There was full compliance with the limits at Connolly Hospital in Dublin and Bantry general hospital in Cork.
This month senior health service officials told the Dáil Public Accounts Committee that hundreds of hospital consultants were flouting the conditions of their new contracts by treating too many private patients.
The committee heard that up to that time 85 doctors had been sent warning letters about their private practice levels.
The report reveals a hospital-by-hospital breakdown of compliance with private practice levels for the first time.
The new consultant contract, introduced last year, sets strict limits on the numbers of private patients permitted to be treated by consultants working in public hospitals. It stipulates that the ratio of public to private patients treated by doctors in public hospitals should range between 70:30 and 80:20 depending on the type of contract held by each doctor.
The new report, which covers the period March-May 2009, was sent by the HSE to the Department of Health yesterday. It will be published this week.
The report states that at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick 25.45 per cent of consultants were adhering strictly to their private practice limits for in-patient admissions. For day cases at the hospital the figure stood at 36.6 per cent for the period. The report says 45.45 per cent of consultants were within 10 per cent of their official ceiling for both in-patient admissions and day cases.
At Cork University Hospital, 54.29 per cent of consultants were found to be adhering strictly to the private practice limits for in-patients and 57 per cent for day cases. At St James's Hospital in Dublin, 75 per cent of consultants were found to be adhering strictly to the private practice limits for in-patients. A total of 85 per cent were either at or within 10 per cent of their ceiling.
At St Vincent's University Hospital, 83 per cent of consultants were compliant with their private practice limits for in-patients, while 92 per cent were either compliant or within 10 per cent of their ceiling.
