Vol. 569 No. 4
243 Ms O. Mitchell asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of non consultant hospital doctors in possession of a certificate of completion of specialist training who are currently working hours in excess of the limits of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997; and the number of hospitals in which this situation pertains. [18058/03]
As of 17 June 2003, data from the Health Services Employers Agency indicates there are 3,924 non-consultant hospital doctors, NCHDs, employed in the Irish public health system. While information regarding the number of NCHDs in possession of a certificate of satisfactory completion of specialist training, CSCST, is not yet available for 2003, the medical training bodies indicated to the Department in 2002 that there were approximately 35 doctors in possession of the CSCST employed in the public system at the time. The report of the National Joint Steering Group on the working hours of non-consultant hospital doctors, 2001, indicated that NCHDs worked an average of 77 hours per week. The data available to my Department regarding average NCHD working hours does not allow identification of the working hours of individual doctors, including those in possession of CSCST.
