Unfilled consultant posts at Mayo hospital ‘at critical levels’
The number of unfilled consultant posts at Mayo University Hospital (MUH) is reaching critical levels, local TD Alan Dillon has revealed.
Up to 30% of roles at the Castlebar centre are filled by temporary or locum consultants.
He cited concerns raised by the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) that without a sufficient number of permanent specialist consultants in posts to assess and treat patients, waiting times and lists will get even longer.
Short-term measures to temporarily fill gaps in essential consultant staffing is both expensive and unreliable while medical agency costs have more than doubled, the IHCA has claimed.
Deputy Dillon raised the issue with An Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
He said: "I want our hospital in Castlebar to succeed into the future.
"With over 700 unfilled consultant posts in hospitals around the country and the age profile of consultants in Mayo University Hospital being much closer to retirement age, there needs to be action to get new specialist registrars into our hospital.
"I understand there are still issues ongoing to remediate consultants’ pay parity and restore trust between consultant bodies and health service management around financial emergency measures in the public interest, FEMPI.
"But we need to see agreement reached on the implementation of consultant contracts if we are to have any chance of getting vacant posts filled. With as many as 30% of consultant roles at MUH being filled on a temporary basis or by locums, it is not a good position in terms of building morale."
An Taoiseach confirmed the total number of funded consultant positions in Mayo University Hospital is about 64 with 60.5 currently in post when locums are included.
He elaborated: "The area of difficulty in filling posts in Mayo University Hospital is predominantly within the medical speciality, so there are a range of issues there.
"Interviews will be held in April for two obstetric consultant posts and one consultant endocrinology post.
"Other posts that have been advertised and have interview dates pending include positions in geriatrics, emergency medicine, respiratory medicine, cardiology medicine and medicine in general.
"At a broader level, there has been substantial recruitment of consultants across the board. It is higher than was sometimes anticipated. On the advancement of new contracts in line with the Sláintecare proposal, we have had intensive discussions on that."
IHCA president Professor Alan Irvine said: “The fact that now over 800 posts cannot be filled as needed is an unequivocal signal to government and health service management that the current conditions in Ireland’s system do not create an environment that skilled medical and surgical specialists want to work in.
"As a result, Irish patients are not getting the hospital and mental health treatment that they need.”