Vol. 542 No. 5
331 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will explain situations where non-consultant hospital doctors may be seriously out of pocket due to the continued refusal by hospitals to reimburse them for training schemes, despite the fact that training grants for all non-consultant hospital doctors come into effect in July 2000 to cover conferences, courses and seminars. [25222/01]
The training grants scheme for non-consultant hospital doctors has been applied successfully throughout the public hospital system to those non-consultant hospital doctors who qualify for the grant. Some delays have been experienced where individual NCHDs have not followed the normal procedure in the health service for accessing payments of grants.
To access this grant, the staff members should first request their head of department to assess the appropriateness of the course, seminar etc., and recommend the course, seminar etc., as suitable for funding under the training grant. The recommendation is submitted to the appropriate hospital manager for approval. Where this procedure is followed, delays should not occur as prior approval for expenditure has been granted.
The Health Service Employers Agency has written to the employing agencies to clarify the entitlement of NCHDs to the training grant and also the necessity that NCHDs follow normal procedure to ensure prompt payment under the training grant initiative.
