Some 125 consultants had switched to the HSE’s new public-only consultant contract 2023 (POCC23) by 19 July, according to figures provided to this newspaper.
The POCC23 came into operation on 8 March. As of 19 July, 195 consultants had signed the POCC23, a HSE spokesperson told the Medical Independent. Of the 195, some 70 consultants were new entrants, while
125 contracts were issued to existing consultants. The HSE employs over 3,700 consultants in total.
The HSE spokesperson claimed there had been “positive” progress on POCC23 uptake and it was expected the numbers would continue to increase each week.
“In addition, it takes time for regional HR [human resources] teams to upload any changes to contracts or on-board new consultants on the internal system,” they noted.
According to HSE figures, there were 3,766 filled consultant posts at the end of June,
an increase from 3,571 at the end of 2022.
A further 40 consultants had been appointed and were due to take up post.
At the end of June, there were 488 consultant posts described as vacant. The HSE does not include posts filled by locum/temporary doctors in its vacancy figures.
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