This article is from page 8 of the 2012-11-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
THE LOCAL HSE confirmed this week that it couldn’t fill two essential frontline consultant posts at the Mid Western Regional Hospital Limerick, as a senior HSE official outlined the hospital is short 25 consultants in total.
According to Dr Ciaran Browne, National Lead for Acute Hospital Services and Palliative Care, the hospital has 25 consultant vacancies in areas ranging from Emergency Medicine to Breast Surgery.
It was also revealed that the Clare Mental Health Service was short three general psychiatric consultants, while Ennis General Hospital had a vacancy for an Endocrinology/ Diabetes Mellitus specialist.
The HSE locally had not explained why there were vacancies in the Clare Mental Health Services or at the local hospital, at time of press. It also disagreed with the number of vacancies for consultants at the Limerick Hospital, admitting that there were currently six vacancies, six more filled by locums and two positions it is unable to fill despite advertising.
“At present there are six vacancies for consultants in the Mid Western Regional Hospital Limerick. These posts are for the following specialties, Radiology, Medicine, Cardiology and Oral Maxillofacial Surgery. Successful candidates have been selected for these posts and their appointments are going through the various stages of the recruitment process,” the spokesperson said.
“Seven posts have been filled permanently and these are in the area of Emergency Medicine, Geriatric Medicine, Otolaryngology, Microbiology, Rheumatology and Obstetrics and Gynecology. A further six posts in Anesthetics, Urology, Radiology have been filled by Locums and are due to be filled by permanent incumbents after the completion of the recruitment process for these posts.
“Despite advertisement, two posts in Histopathology have not been filled permanently and these are currently filled by Locums,” he said.
Histopathology is the microscopic study of diseased tissue, and is an important tool of anatomical pathology since diagnosis of cancer and other diseases usually requires histopathological examination of samples.
“Over the past five years there have been major advances in the region in the provision of consultant services in rheumatology, neurology and dermatology,” he spokesperson said.
In his reply Dr Browne said vacancies arise from time to time in different specialities due to a number of reasons including the moratorium on recruitment and the difficulty in recruiting consultants in different specialties.