asked the Minister for Health the amounts paid to consultants in the Mater Hospital, Dublin 7 in 1986-87 in respect of public patients and in accordance with the rates approved by his Department.
Written Answers - Payments to Hospital Consultants.
186.
The amount paid by the Mater Hospital to consultants under the terms of the common contract in 1986 was £1.589 million. The estimated figure for 1987 is £1.618 million.
187.
asked the Minister for health arising from his reply to parliamentary question No. 271 of 27 January, 1988 if he will give details of the rates of remuneration approved by his Department for consultants with regard to patients holding medical cards.
Consultants are remunerated on the basis of their contractual commitments to the hospital in accordance with rates of remuneration approved by my Department. The remuneration is in respect of the treatment of eligible patients i.e. category I (medical card holders) and category II patients excluding those who opt for private treatment. The current rates of remuneration for a whole time commitment range between £27,994 per annum to a maximum of £36,360 per annum depending on the specialty and/or location of the consultants appointment together with the extent of additional duties e.g. extended duty liability and emergency services performed by the consultant.
188.
asked the Minister for Health arising from his reply to Parliamentary Question No. 271 on 27 January, 1988 if a consultant who is remunerated in accordance with the rates approved by his Department may delegate all aspects of the patients care to other staff.
The responsibility of the consultant for the treatment of patients was set out in the Interim Report of the Working Party on a Common Contract for Consultants as follows:
Being a consultant involves continuing responsibility for investigation and for treatment of patients without supervision in professional matters by any other person. This continuing responsibility for investigation and for treatment of patients is a personal matter between each consultant and each patient in his care and it extends for as long as the patient remains in the consultant's care. The consultant may discharge this responsibility directly in a personal relationship with his patient, or, in the exercise of his professional judgement, he may delegate aspects of the patient's care to other appropriate staff, or he may exercise the responsibility concurrently with another doctor or doctors. Notwithstanding this, however, the unique position of the consultant in the hospital requires that he cannot shed the continuing responsibility for his patients so long as they remain in his care.