Vol. 517 No. 4
78 Mr. Connaughton asked the Minister for Health and Children his policy on a proposed sub-consultant grade; and the progress, if any, made in reaching agreement on the final content of the interim report of the manpower forum. [9492/00]
124 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for Health and Children when the recommendations of the Manpower Forum will be published; the number of additional hospital consultants which will be appointed arising from the forum; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9899/00]
209 Mr. Shatter asked the Minister for Health and Children his policy on a proposed sub-consultant grade; and the progress, if any, made in reaching agreement on the final content of the interim report of the manpower forum. [10203/00]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 78, 124 and 209 together.
There are no proposals by the Medical Manpower Forum to establish a sub-consultant grade. The primary concern of the forum is the improvement of patient care by enhancing the medical staffing in the public hospital system. Considerable progress has been made in the consideration of the issues involved. It is intended that the deliberations of the Medical Manpower Forum will be arrived at unanimously. Accordingly, some further work is required in order to achieve a consensus.
The recommendations of the forum will need to be tested in a representative number of hospitals and it will be necessary to put a structure in place to assess the proposed changes. Until this assessment is completed it is not possible to give the number of posts which will be created.
