Vol. 405 No. 1
85 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health the number of foreign doctors working in our health services in the years 1988, 1989 and 1990; and if he has satisfied himself that there are no problems of communication between these non consultant hospital doctors and the public because of language differences.
The information the Deputy has requested is not available for 1989. Surveys were carried out by the Post-Graduate Medical and Dental Board for 1988 and 1990. The numbers of non-national non-consultant hospital doctors are as follows: At 1 October 1988, 418; At 1 October 1990, 727.
The Deputy may be interested to know that in the same period the total numbers of NCHDs were 1,815 and 2,195. The Medical Council have received no reports from the public concerning communication problems relating to language difficulties in respect of foreign NCHDs.
