STATE SPIED ON PAY ROW DOCS

Hospital snoops revealed in letter

CONFIDENTIAL documents have revealed the State hired private investigators to snoop on hospital consultants in an effort to avoid a High Court pay claim.

Reports said three Government departments authorised the surveillance in a bid to show doctors had been treating more private patients than they were allowed to.

Private detectives monitored the activities of consultants in public and private hospitals.

A letter seen by the Sunday Business Post from the Department of

Health stated the decision to spy on doctors was made last year. It reads: “At a Cabinet meeting on February 14, 2017, the Government decided on a strategy to defend these cases and specified that non-compliance by consultants with the contract should be a particular line of defence.” Around 700 hospital consultants have challenged a State decision to withhold pay hikes promised to them under the terms of the 2008 contract and a further 2,000 doctors who are under the same contract are also set to be affected.

While a division within the HSE was initially responsible for setting up the surveillance, the decision was not cleared by senior officials who ordered the surveillance to be discontinued as they decided the practice was “inappropriate”.

In response the Department of Health ordered the HSE to reactivate the private investigators saying their actions were approved by the Departments of Health, Finance and Public Expenditure.