The Health Service Executive is to advertise this week to fill a first batch of 30 hospital consultant posts following agreement with the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) on revised pay proposals.
The new posts will offer starting salaries of up to €155,000 for doctors with experience and consultants working in public hospitals will be able to reach the maximum pay rate of €175,000 faster than previously envisaged.
The HSE plans to advertise for a further 30 consultants soon after the first group is recruited.
In addition, about 120 recruitment competitions for consultants which are already under way will benefit from the new salary levels agreed with the IMO.
The move comes as new figures show 143 consultant posts, excluding psychiatry, are vacant across the country.
Temporary locums
A further 182 consultant positions are filled by temporary locums or medical personnel provided through agencies.
The figures to be given by the Department of Health and the HSE to the Oireachtas health committee on Thursday show 47 consultant positions in medical specialities are vacant, as are 27 in surgical specialities.
The latest figures show the consultant employment position as of last December.
The figures show the difficulties the health service has experienced in filling consultant positions on the pay scales which were in place until now.
In October 2012, the Government unilaterally cut pay by 30 per cent for all consultants appointed after that date.
However, this has been substantially reversed following the recent negotiations with the IMO.
Private practice
Under the revised deal, the entry rate for doctors working exclusively in public hospitals with no private practice will be €127,000. This can increase in nine performance-related increments to a maximum of €175,000.
Doctors with experience can enter the Irish health system on the sixth point of the scale, which has a pay rate of €155,000.
Consultants with rights to carry out private practice will receive lower salaries as part of the proposals. The new pay rates are backdated to last September.
The IMO, which voted 60 to 40 for the deal, has said its support is “heavily qualified” and will seek further improvements in terms and conditions for consultants.
A second organisation representing senior doctors, the Irish Hospital Consultants’ Association (IHCA), is opposed to the revised pay scales.
It was not invited to participate in the talks that led to the revision of the pay scales as it had not signed up to the Haddington Road agreement on public service pay and productivity.
