Madam, - As higher surgical trainees who have devoted most of our adult lives to acquiring the skills necessary to deliver the excellent care the Irish people have a right to expect, we find the terms of the newly proposed consultant contract insulting.
The terms of this contract destroy the doctor-patient relationship and reduce the role of the hospital consultant to that of being answerable to the hospital administrator first and the patient second. The attempt by the Minister for Health and the Health Service Executive to force through a new contract without agreement is compounded by the misinformation which has accompanied it.
The addition of 1,500 new consultants to the hospital system without the provision of accompanying resources in terms of additional operating theatre or outpatient clinic space or extra bed capacity will not alter the delivery of care in our hospitals. The assertion that these posts will attract high-quality trainees is quite simply incorrect.
We all wish to state unequivocally that we are unwilling to work as consultants under the terms of the new proposed contract and will instead opt to bring elsewhere in the world the skills we have worked so hard to develop in Ireland. The alternative, of course, is that we may choose the autonomy of private practice, further deepening the divide between the quality of healthcare available to public and private patients.
These newly advertised posts will be attractive to second-rate trainees who know that under normal circumstances they would be unable to compete. We believe that investing public money in this scheme represents a poor investment for the taxpayer, reminiscent of the PPARS fiasco. The net result will be a healthcare system staffed by inferior consultants with a resultant decline in patient care. - Yours, etc,
CIARAN McDONNELL, SHONA TORMEY, J. CALVIN COFFEY, JAMES O'RIORDAN, JOHN CONNEELY, MITCHEL BARRY, CAITRIONA CANNING, ELEANOR FAUL, Senior Registrars, Department of Surgery, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin 7.
Madam, - Mary Harney should be ashamed of herself. As threatened at the agm of the Irish Medical Organisation, she has advertised 68 consultant posts in the national and medical press. There are, however, no deadlines by which candidates must apply for these posts and only chaos and confusion surrounding the possible job descriptions. This is certainly not the way to attract the best candidates to Ireland and its imploding health service.
Ms Harney was once a shining light in Irish politics and such a stunt is disappointing. It shows no understanding of the potential that exists in our health system and will confirm for many Irish graduates that the best course for their careers lies on foreign soil. - Yours, etc,
Dr MIKE QUIRKE, Gladstone Street Surgery, Clonmel, Co Tipperary.