This article is from page 3 of the 2008-05-20 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
, the non-consult- ant doctor who was working in the surgery department at Ennis General received the fifth highest payment in overtime last year in the mid-west
region.
The doctor was one of three Clare- based junior doctors in the top twen- ty overtime earners in the mid-west last year.
All in the top 20 were junior doc- tors and the top earner was a registrar at the Ear, Nose and Throat Depart- ment at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick who received more than €100,000 in overtime.
The other Clare doctors to feature includes a second registrar at En-
nis General Hospital who received €72,982 and a third doctor working at St Joseph’s Hospital who received €64,081. Four junior doctors re- ceived more than €90,000 in over- time in the region.
The EU Working Time Direc- tive – which seeks to limit the hours worked by junior doctors – is due to come into force next year and it was the basis of the HSE producing the Hanly report in 2003.
Eleven of top twenty overtime earn-
ers are based in Limerick. Last year, the overtime bill for the mid-west region across all sectors in the HSE amounted to €17.35 million while in Clare, the overtime bill last year amounted to €2.938 million.
The overtime bill has been creep- ing up steadily since 2004 when €16 million was paid in the mid-west and €2.696 million was paid in County SEK
The FOI figures also show that the overall wage bill for the HSE in the
mid-west last year was €380 mil- lion- representing an increase of 26 per cent on the wage bill of €300 million in 2004.
The Clare figures show that the HSE wage bill for the county in- creased from €59 million in 2004 to €73 million in 2007 – an increase of 23.7 per cent.
The annual HSE wage bill under- lines the massive contribution the HSE makes to the local and regional economy each year.