The Minister for Health Simon Harris has launched a scathing attack on consultants at the nations hospitals by calling their actions shameful and immoral.
Mr Harris who was responding to questioning during an Oireachtas meeting on Wednesday said consultants should put more time in and work the hours they are contracted to be paid for.
The Health Minister’s comments come after a recent RTE Prime Time investigates programme discovered that a number of consultants at some of the countries leading hospitals were not fulfilling their contractual agreements as they were deliberately avoiding putting any time in when it came to dealing with public patient appointments.
Although Minister Harris agreed that almost all medical staff did put in an adequate amount of overtime when required, he did state that some consultants behaviour was completely unacceptable.
According to RTE News the Health Minister revealed that he and the HSE will conduct a full review into the cases highlighted on the programme along with any other complaints made by patients in the past few months.
Mr Harris also told the committee that he will do everything within his power to make sure that consultants fulfill their contractual duties, saying there is no point in paying for hours that are not being completed by staff who are required to complete them.