Private work in breach

Alarming breaches of the private practice provisions of the consultant contract are revealed in a new report seen by IMT.
The figures show that many consultants are in gross breach of their contracts with the HSE. The HSE report reveals records of public and private work performed by consultants in November 2009.

The new consultant contract sets strict limits on the amount of private work consultants can perform.
The most severe breaches were in orthopaedics and obstetrics. A radiologist in the west, for example, engaged in 100 per cent private inpatient work. Another radiologist in the same area engaged in 100 per cent private day-case work.
An ENT consultant in the west only did private inpatient work. Two geriatric medicine consultants in the west are recorded as having done 100 per cent private day-case work. A general medicine consultant in the west also performed exclusively private inpatient procedures. Two anaesthetists in the west did only private inpatient work. One ophthalmologist only did private inpatient work.
An obstetrician in the west performed 100 per cent day-case work, and two gynaecologists are recorded as doing 100 per cent private inpatient work. The private inpatient work of another obstetrician in the west comprised 96.7 per cent.
This compares with another consultant in the west who did just 9.2 per cent private inpatient obstetrics work. Private inpatient work took up 100 per cent of one anaesthetist in the west. Consultants have a maximum of nine months to bring their private practice ratios into line, before financial sanctions are imposed. Under the new contract, 20 per cent of work may be private. Some of the above consultants were limited to 30 per cent. The breaches were widespread across the country.
The HSE has said that the figures for some subspecialties – especially those who do not normally admit patients – may reflect a small number of admissions, as a number of specialist practices are predominantly day-case or outpatient based.
The IHCA said that contrary to a statement by Prof Drumm, there has not been agreement by all on the rules under which the measurement system will operate. It claims some data is ‘incomplete, inaccurate and grossly misleading’.