Sir, – I laughed when I saw the suggestion that hospital consultants who do not possess the minimum State requirements for their consultant jobs, and who nevertheless have been appointed to those jobs by the State, should wear a special badge announcing their perceived inadequacy ("Call for consultants who are 'acting up' to wear special ID", News, February 13th).
Wouldn’t it be more sensible if those who appointed the aforesaid consultants wore a badge stating that they had foolishly made appointments contrary to their own stated minimum standards? – Yours, etc,
AOIFE LORD,
Tankardstown,
Co Meath.
Sir, – Instead of the Minister for Health Simon Harris spending his energy on identifying consultants who are “acting up”, maybe he should focus his attention on why the HSE is not able to fill these positions with fully qualified consultants.
Maybe he’s afraid of the answer – the dissatisfaction of working as a consultant in a dysfunctional health service and that is top-heavy with bureaucrats who spend more time diverting attention from their own incompetence than creating a health service attractive to specialist consultants.
In short, those roles filled by doctors “acting up” are impossible to fill for a reason, and instead of shaming those doctors for “acting up”, maybe Mr Harris should thank them for filling a role that many others considered but probably took up roles in the private sector or in a different country’s health service altogether. – Yours, etc,
Dr BRIAN DALY,
Nelson,
New Zealand.