A Tipperary based hospital consultant says doctors should be paid more to work in provincial hospitals.
Professor Peter Murchan, a colorectal surgeon at South Tipperary General – made his comments at a conference on reducing risk in surgery.
The state’s seventeen Model 3 hospitals, including South Tipperary General, are facing the abyss according to a leading consultant.
Professor Peter Murchan claims doctors working in these facilities were in real fear of litigation issues, as the hospital’s bed capacities relative to population are below the national average.
Speaking at a conference at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, he said new measures had to be considered to tackle the problems faced by Model 3 hospitals.
Professor Murchan says doctors need to be paid more, while those with onerous responsibilities and on-call hours should get higher pay than their part time equivalents.
Most of these Model 3 hospitals are staffed with a “paltry” number of surgeons, who tend to have to be on-call frequently, according to the highly respected physician.
Professor Murchan says significant investment needs to be directed towards hospitals like South Tipperary General.
He also suggested that the best-performing doctors coming out of medical schools should be sent to the lowest-ranking hospitals for a period.
