Report completed on ‘non-specialist’ consultants

The HSE has completed a report on the employment of consultants not registered in the specialist division of the medical register, the Medical Independent (MI) has been informed.

The report was written by HSE National Doctors Training and Planning (NDTP) and forwarded to the Department of Health, where it is currently being considered.

As of February 2019, there were a total of 153 doctors in consultant posts not registered on the specialist division.

Of these, 46 were employed prior to 2008, and 107 were employed post-2008. 

As revealed recently by MI, in a letter on 9 October 2018 to Secretary General of the Department of Health Mr Jim Breslin, the Director of NTDP Prof Frank Murray requested the Department’s “intervention” in relation to consultants appointed prior to 2008 “who were appointed through a standard interview process and were appointed in a way that was entirely appropriate”.

According to a Department spokesperson: “It is intended that an amendment to the Medical Practitioners Act providing for the reopening of the window for a limited time to address the position of those properly appointed prior to the 2008 changes will be moved when the Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care)(Amendment) Bill 2019 is at committee stage.”

As a result, the Medical Council will be able to ‘grandfather’ this group of consultants onto the register. The Department spokesperson said that “the process will take time”.

“The HSE is committed to supporting the remaining consultants apply for registration,” added the spokesperson.