Bernard Allen
Question:132 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children if he proposes to introduce a new medical manpower initiative so that doctors can spend a greater part of their training and subsequent careers in Ireland. [23829/99]
Written Answers. - Medical Manpower Forum.
Bernard Allen
Question:133 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will make a statement on the recent recommendation of the Medical Manpower Forum to set up a sub-consultant grade. [23830/99]
Bernard Allen
Question:134 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children the steps, if any, he will take on the findings of the Medical Manpower Forum that there are very few hospital doctors in their 30s as significant numbers of aspiring consultants and GPs migrate to the United Kingdom or North America for training purposes and are lost, in many cases permanently, to the Irish hospital system; and if he will recommend the implementation of a shorter more focused training programme for non-consultant hospital doctors to avert this crisis. [23831/99]
Bernard Allen
Question:135 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children the steps, if any, he proposes to take on the recommendation of the Medical Manpower Forum which advocates the consideration of positive action to ensure women are better represented at the higher level of a number of medical specialities. [23832/99]
Bernard Allen
Question:136 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will make a statement on the findings of the recent Medical Manpower Forum which stated that Ireland is facing an impending manpower crisis in the health services because of increasing non-consultant hospital doctors' emigration and a shortage of non-EU doctors replacing them. [23833/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 132 to 136, inclusive, together.
The Medical Manpower Forum is a major initiative to review medical staffing structures in public hospitals. Among the issues being examined are the provision of the highest quality of medical care to patients; addressing the imbalance in hospitals between career posts and training posts; addressing the gender imbalance at consultant level; the need to improve postgraduate medical training; the provision of greater career opportunities for non-consultant hospital doctors so as to retain medical graduates in Ireland.
As part of the consultative process, the forum is also addressing altered responsibilities for existing consultants; the need to provide greater on-site consultant cover in public hospitals, especially at night and at weekends; and the introduction of a new grade of hospital consultant – not a sub-consultant.
The medical manpower forum has not submitted a report to date but is preparing an interim report which is nearing completion and which will contain a number of proposals to address the matters outlined.