An audit by the HSE has revealed that 99 hospital consultants received salaries of €350,000 or more in 2023, for their public sector work, reports RTE.
Among these 99 consultants, the average salary amounted to €416,000.
The internal audit disclosed that the highest-paid consultant earned €963,000—approximately €10,000 less than the top earner in the previous year.
These payments covered a range of components including overtime, on-call duties, compensation for unused annual leave and rest days, cross-cover responsibilities, and funding through the National Treatment Purchase Fund aimed at reducing waiting lists, under locally arranged schemes, reports RTE.
The medical specialties that accounted for a large share of these payments included radiology, emergency medicine, surgery, and psychiatry.
The number of consultants earning over €350,000 rose from 57 in 2022 to 99 in 2023.
The HSE currently employs more than 4,600 consultants, reports RTE.
According to the audit, the increase in consultants earning between €300,000 and €350,000 was linked to updated pay agreements and the reversal of reductions previously introduced under the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (FEMPI) Act.
The total combined salary for the 99 consultants amounted to €41 million, reports RTE.
The HSE clarified that the figures reflect payments made during the 2023 calendar year, which marked a transitional phase in the implementation of the Public Only Consultant Contract that was introduced in March.
The audit recommends creating a single live register to track legacy exceptional payments and having each Regional Finance Director review and confirm their records every quarter, with annual re-approval by the Regional Executive Officer, reports RTE.
Additionally, the report advises phasing out off-contract payments by filling vacant consultant roles, increasing service capacity in areas like diagnostics and surgery, and redistributing planned work across an extended working day.
The audit also raised concerns that excessive workloads could jeopardize patient safety and contribute to staff burnout and higher turnover if additional duties are not managed properly, reports RTE.
Internal audits by the HSE are published quarterly and made available under Freedom of Information legislation.
The 2022 Internal Audit had flagged similar concerns, reports RTE.
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