Vol. 501 No. 3
230 Mr. Kenneally asked the Minister for Health and Children the mechanism, if any, used to audit the time spent by consultants on public sessions to ensure that they are carrying out their scheduled commitments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5830/99]
Under the terms of the consultant's contract, a consultant's commitment to his/her public patients is continuous for so long as he or she is responsible for that patient's care. Within that overall commitment consultants have a scheduled commitment which reflects the periods of time during which they are expected to be physically present in the public hospital or otherwise engaged on behalf of the public hospital. In the case of a full-time commitment this equates to 11 sessions on 33 notional hours per week. The contract allows hospital managers to monitor the consultant's scheduled commitment and to take appropriate action if they are not satisfied that the consultant's commitment to public patients is being properly discharged.
