Garda, nurses, teachers and doctor's pay

A report on our progress in the bailout programme a few years ago saids Health Minister James Reilly should cut the salaries of our hospital doctors, who are the highest paid in Europe, to avoid drastic cuts to hospital services.


The highly critical report also calls for cuts to some salaries and allowances in other public sector jobs. And it warns we may be in for more tough Budgets as the Commission cut its 2013 growth forecast for Ireland to 1.1pc from 1.4pc.


The Commission said it was impossible for the Government to hit targets for ?health spending cuts within the agreed timeframe without cutting salaries and other costs or cutting patient care. This contradicts repeated government assurances that health spending can be reduced while maintaining patient care and sticking to the Croke Park deal.


It also wants measures to force doctors who don't prescribe cheap generic drugs to face penalties. The cost of drugs in Ireland tripled between 2000 and 2008 and we pay more for drugs than anybody in Europe bar the Greeks.


The 72-page draft report, which must be compiled as part of the bailout programme and which has been seen by the Irish Independent, paints a picture of a health system where costs are out of control because staff are paid too much and the State pays one-third more than the EU average for hospital drugs.
Substantial additional savings through efficiency gains cannot be made within the required timeframe without damaging patient care unless high salaries and the high price of other inputs are seriously addressed," the report warns.
While the Commission takes aim at doctors' salaries, it also calls for workers protected by the Croke Park agreement to bring their pay into line with civil servants in other countries.


The report also urges the Government to scrap plans for further redundancies in the public sector, saying it will lead to worse services and push more people on to the dole.


It challenges government claims that the newest planned redundancy programme would pay for itself in three years.


The report also highlights the "significant and unexplained wage gap" between private and public sector workers.



On the health system, the Commission says health spending is high here but the results are average, which implies that there is poor value for money.


This means people are dying unnecessarily. There was more scope to extend life expectancy here than in almost any other developed country, it added.


It wants every patient to have their own ID number, better GP services and a funding mechanism that rewards popular hospitals and punishes bad hospitals. Pharmaceuticals costs, which tripled between 2000 and 2008, have to be reduced.


Best-paid


The Commission, which highlights that Irish hospital doctors earn twice what their UK counterparts get, wants the Government to recognise more degrees from Europe and further afield. The HSE recognises far fewer degrees than the UK, for example.


While existing consultants are among the best-paid doctors in the world, the Government recently cut pay for new doctors without reaching a deal with the Irish Medical Organisation, which claims the deal breaks the Croke Park agreement.


New consultants who only do public work now have a starting salary of €116,207 compared with €166,000 two years ago. Academic consultants are paid just under €146,000, down from €231,653.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/doctors-here-are-paid-too-much-says-new-eu-report-28957384.html

Geuze wrote: »

I did a simple Google search for "HSE payscales"

First result:

http://www.hse.ie/eng/staff/Benefits_Services/pay/

And that shows 55,000 average? I'll have to take your word, nightmare to read on a phone.

Premium fuel for the rocket car it is then.