SSWHG and Saolta have most ‘non-specialist’ consultants

General medicine, psychiatry and surgery are the specialties with the most consultants employed by the HSE who are not on the specialist register of the Medical Council, the Medical Independent (MI) can report.South/South West Hospital Group (SSWHG) and Saolta University Health Care Group are the two Hospital Groups with the highest number of consultants who are not on the specialist register.MI recently reported that there were 109 consultants employed by the HSE at the end of April who were not on the specialist register. This newspaper has since received a breakdown of the specialties and the healthcare regions involved. In terms of specialties, general medicine leads the way with 35; psychiatry comes next with 20; and surgery with 18. Anaesthesiology has 11;emergency medicine has nine; obstetrics and gynaecology has six; radiology has five; paediatrics has three; and pathology two.

In terms of locations, SSWHG has the highest number of consultants who are not specialist-registered, at 25, followed by Saolta, which has 20. Dublin Midlands Hospital Group is next with 13; RCSI Hospitals has 11; and Ireland East Hospital Group has nine. The data provided was extracted from the Doctors Integrated Management E-system (DIME) as of 30 April. “DIME is dependent on clinical sites inputting details on their consultant workforce and therefore there may be variances and gaps in the data supplied to that held within clinical sites,” said a HSE spokesperson.“Due to the recent HSE cyberattack and the data backlog outstanding it is not possible to provide data after this date.” The 109 consultants not on the specialist register represent a 29 per cent reduction over the last two years, noted the spokesperson.