Consultants' Contracts Slammed

While GP contracts have had more Press exposure, the subsequent NHS contract that boosted hospital consultants’ pay by more than a quarter some months afterwards has now been slammed as causing a fall in productivity and a reduction in the number of hours worked.

A report by MPs has branded the deal - introduced in 2003 – as "something for nothing" - said Edward Leigh, the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee.

Consultants’ pay has since risen by an average of 27%, but their working hours have fallen and there had been no measurable increases in productivity.

The Department of Health also underestimated the cost of the contract by at least £150 million over three years, and rushed its implementation, the committee found.

Consultants’ work plans, which were supposed to be more tightly controlled, were drafted too quickly and often consisted of no more than what the consultant already did, or planned to do.

The contract did improve recruitment and retention, however, and enabled consultants to catch up with the earnings of other similarly qualified professionals.

The growth in the amount of private work undertaken by consultants had however been halted, and patients were now more likely to be seen by a consultant than they were a decade ago.

The committee concluded that the increased pay would only have been justified if it also led to improvements in productivity.

Despite ministers’ expectations that the change would result in a 1.5 per cent annual gain in productivity, the department’s own figures suggested that productivity fell by 0.5 per cent in 2004, the first full year of the contract, the report concluded. Figures for 2005 and 2006 are not yet available.

(BMcC)