Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 July 2023
1108. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Health to clarify approximately how many doctors have qualified in Ireland over the past three years; the number of those who remain in the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35666/23]
View answerThe Medical Council is the custodian of the register of registered medical practitioners. By law all doctors are required to register with the Council in order to practise medicine. The register is a “living” database and each working day doctors are entered on, removed from, or transferred between the Divisions of the register.
Doctors can leave the register at any time. It is important to note however that a doctor may choose to leave the jurisdiction while still remaining on the register, thereby holding dual registration; therefore it is not possible to accurately provide the exact number of those doctors who have qualified in Ireland and who choose to leave or to remain on the register. Irish qualified doctors will often leave the jurisdiction in order to practise abroad, seeking to attain further specialist training and they will often return back to the Irish health service following a period away.
As the Deputy may be aware, following completion of their medical degree a doctor must complete an intern year in order to be eligible for registration on the General Division, allowing them to practise independently or to continue in structured training. A number of Irish medical schools have international students completing medical degree programmes in Ireland who, on completion of their medical degree may plan to return to their country of origin to undertake an intern year or to continue their training in their own country. Similarly, graduates may decide to complete Foundation Year training in the UK in order to become fully qualified doctors. With these diverse qualification pathways it is difficult to specify the number of doctors who complete their training in Ireland. However, the table below sets out the number of final year students and intern placements for each of the past three years.
|
- |
2019/2020 |
2020/21 |
2021/22 |
|
Final year medical school student |
1,403 |
1,310 |
1,295 |
|
Intern posts |
982* |
854 |
854 |
The Medical Council produces an annual Medical Workforce Intelligence Report which contains detailed analysis of the registration data, focusing on demographics of those retaining and withdrawing from the medical register in Ireland. The most recent report published by the Council covered the reporting period of 2021.
The report identified 982 doctors who voluntarily withdrew from the register, with 306 having graduated from Irish medical schools. It is important to note that this is across all years of graduation, not just the past three years and includes doctors who intend to practise in another country or plan to stop practising altogether (this could include doctors retiring, changing career, moving to academia etc.)
Doctor retention data is being closely monitored by the HSE and shows a high number of doctors returning to commence further post graduate training and/or take up a Consultant post in Ireland. Data from HSE, National Doctors Training and Planning (NDTP) shows that 82% of medical interns who commenced intern training in 2015 subsequently commenced a Basic Specialist Training or General Practice (GP) training programme in subsequent years (2016-2021). Intern year 2015-2020 data shows a trend of medical interns leaving the health service immediately following their intern year, with a substantial number of them returning to the HSE within 2-3 years. In 2021, of the 2016 cohort of doctors who completed specialist training (excluding GP training programme) 68% are employed in Ireland and 32% are abroad or unknown.
It is very common for doctors who have completed postgraduate training to undertake a Fellowship or experience abroad before taking up a consultant post. Indeed, this is often necessary, and to be encouraged, in a country such as Ireland with a relatively small population. Such training is essential to our health service continuing to have access to highly trained specialists at the top of their field. It is important to take this trend into consideration when tracking retention.
