asked the Minister for Health if he will state (1) the amount of (a) salary and (b) fees paid to each dispensary doctor, and (2) the amount of salary and/or fees paid to non-dispensary doctors, including specialists, by every health authority in the State in the years 1954, 1955, 1956, and up to the latest date for which information is available; and, further, if he will state the names of such doctors and their dates and terms of appointment.
Written Answer. - Doctors' Salaries and Fees.
The information asked for by the Deputy is not available in my Department. The particulars referred to in the first part of the question can be obtained from health authorities' records and I am asking these authorities to compile them, though it may take some time to do so. When they have been received, I shall make them available to the Deputy.
As regards the second part of the question, I am not in a position to furnish the information asked for. In this connection, I would like to point out to the Deputy that in addition to the very large number of doctors and specialists employed by health authorities, part-time or whole-time on varying conditions of service in all classes of health institutions, such as regional, county, district, fever and mental hospitals and sanatoria, a very considerable number of medical practitioners in private practice and on the staffs of voluntary institutions throughout the country receive payments directly and indirectly from or on behalf of health authorities in connection with services rendered under the Health Acts and otherwise. In some cases, these payments are not made direct to the doctors concerned but to the institutions to which they are attached and information is not available as to the manner in which they are allocated amongst those entitled to receive them; for example, the element in the daily capitation rate paid to voluntary hospitals in respect of local authority patients which is earmarked for the remuneration of the staffs of these hospitals. In other cases, payments, although made direct to individual doctors, may not be retained in full by them but may be shared by arrangement with the authorities or with other members of the staffs of the institutions in which they work.
In these circumstances, the Deputy will appreciate that it would not be possible to furnish an accurate and complete return of the information sought by him.