Just one in seven hospital consultants on the new contract are working Saturdays

Pressure on hospital consultants to deliver a seven-day service

Of the more than 3,200 consultants on the contract who recorded their hours, 14% worked Saturdays and 38% worked extended day shifts, and the figures land as hospitals prepare for increased pressure over the winter months.

The Public Only Consultant Contract was delivered more than three years ago.

It was designed to make better use of clinics and operating theatres, and to increase the number of consultants available to treat patients outside Monday-to-Friday hours.

The latest data suggests that change is happening slowly.

Social Democrats health spokesperson Padraig Rice said consultants who signed the contract must implement it in full.

"It’s unacceptable that only one in seven hospital consultants on the new contracts are working on the weekend," said Rice.

"A core part of the reform under the new public-only contract was extended hours on evenings and weekends."

The Irish Medical Organisation argued that consultants cannot deliver weekend clinics on their own.

Professor Mick Molloy, chair of the IMO consultants committee, said rostering scheduled work such as outpatient clinics at weekends “does require a team of people to make that work effectively”, with administrators and nursing staff needed alongside the consultant.

Rice also called on the Minister for Health to lift what he described as a de-facto recruitment embargo, pointing to hundreds of vacancies in Cork University Hospital alone.

For patients, arguments over HSE funding and rosters usually end the same way: longer waits.