HSE chief warns of ‘time lag’ before new hospital consultants are recruited from abroad

A new campaign to recruit hospital consultants is unlikely to yield results in time for next winter due to a “time lag” in filling posts.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) is hoping to recruit more than 400 new hospital consultants with a new recruitment campaign highlighting the “generous” €257,000-a-year consultant contract introduced this year.

Recruitment could take up to three months and then consultants will have to work out notice, according to HSE chief executive Bernard Gloster, who pointed out the time lag depends on the individual circumstances of doctors.

“We’ll be targeting people working in Ireland and internationally, both those who trained in Ireland, and new talent from international locations,” HSE national director of HR, Anne Marie Hoey, said.

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“We want to develop awareness of the variety of consultant posts available in Ireland, and make eligible clinicians aware that the new, generously remunerated consultant contract is live.”

The campaign will begin in the UK and Australia this week before moving to the rest of Europe, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa.

Two groups are being targeted: a theme of “time to come home” is aimed at Irish-trained doctors working abroad, and one of “time to explore” seeks to encourage overseas staff to come to work in Ireland.

[ Scheme attracts almost 50 doctors from outside the EU to work in rural surgeries ]

[ Report recommends additional 2,000 hospital consultants and 1,000 junior doctors ]

While the contract was rejected in principle by the two representative bodies for consultants, any decision to move over to it is up to the individual doctor.

So far, 61 existing consultants have switched over to the new contract, while 43 newly-appointed consultants have been employed under its terms. The HSE said a further 166 consultants are “in the process of transitioning” to the new contract and there have been 600 “expressions of interest” in it.

It can take up to 12 months for a consultant to “wrap up” in an existing position before coming to work for the HSE, Mr Gloster told RTÉ radio.

Ms Hoey said the HSE wants to develop awareness of the variety of consultant posts available in Ireland, and to make doctors aware the new, “generously remunerated” consultant contract is live.

“There is a global shortage of healthcare workers at the moment, and a fiercely competitive market. As a result, many international health systems around the world are seeking to address this shortage by recruiting from abroad, including the HSE.

Health services in Australia, New Zealand and the UK have repeatedly targeted Irish doctors and nurses in recruitment campaigns run here, often including billboards prominently placed outside Irish hospitals.

“Our new campaign will commence in the UK and Australia across print media, social media and digital media. International campaigns will take place initially across the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, with tag lines like: ‘You found yourself in North Sydney, now find your roots in South Dublin’,” she said.

Welcoming the campaign, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly pointed out that 20,000 additional staff have been recruited over the past three years, including more than 2,000 doctors.

Countering this, staff are leaving in greater numbers than ever before – more than 10 per cent of HSE staff retired or resigned last year.

Mr Donnelly said the new contract is central to the drive toward universal healthcare. “I am confident that specialist doctors throughout the world, both those trained in Ireland and elsewhere, will see the benefits of this new contract and grasp the opportunity it presents.”

General medicine and psychiatry are the areas with the highest number of consultant vacancies.