Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 March 2022
1003. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Health if he has considered putting in place a scheme to incentivise newly qualified medical graduates from Irish universities to stay and work in the health service here for a period of time after their qualification; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14659/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraRecruitment and retention of newly qualified medical graduates is a key priority. Retention efforts by the HSE both nationally and locally are in place with significant career development and progression and educational/development opportunities being offered. The Department is working with the National Doctors Training and Planning (NDTP) Office of the HSE in relation to medical workforce planning and initiatives aimed at increasing opportunities for training and career progression for trainee doctors. Opportunities for training and career progression for doctors in the Irish Health system continue to evolve. Examples of the initiatives include:
- The Introduction of the online National Employment Record (NER) has now eliminated the requirement for duplication of paperwork associated with NCHD rotations.
- Enhanced Financial Supports: The Training Support Scheme (TSS), introduced in July 2019, provides reimbursement for approved exams, courses or conferences and is open to all NCHDs. Since July 2019 the full costs of approved examination/courses are eligible for refund to NCHDs under the Clinical Course Exam Refund Scheme (CCERS), this was previously capped at €450.
- Greater predictability of the location of rotations are now provided to trainees at the outset of training. All newly appointed trainees receive a minimum of 2 years pre-defined rotations, a minimum of 13 weeks prior to commencing training/entry to their training scheme, while trainees entering year 3 of a training scheme receive a minimum of 2 years pre-defined rotations a minimum of 13 weeks prior to commencing year 3 of the scheme.
- Increased rationalised training opportunities: A number of training schemes are moving towards more a regionalised structure of training. This is specialty dependent, but examples include the intern rotations which take place within a particular intern network and geographic location.
- Introduction of the Lead NCHD programme: The programme was introduced to provide a formal link at hospital management level between NCHDs and management, and to develop leadership capacity within NCHDs. The programme now runs across 32 acute hospitals, Community Health Organisations (CHOs), Public Health and Primary Care settings.
- NDTP have recently launched a new E-Portfolio / Logbook accessible to NCHDs via their National Employment Record. The principal objective of the E-Portfolio is to allow NCHDs who are not on a formal training scheme access to a generic standard document to record their training and career development. It also provides the opportunity to have their experience validated by their supervising Consultant where applicable.
The HSE NDTP Office is in the initial stages of work regarding doctors who completed an internship in Ireland. Early and provisional data shows that a high percentage of medical interns who graduate leave Ireland for at least one year. However, the data shows that 82% of interns who commenced one year intern training in July 2015 subsequently commenced a Basic Specialist Training (BST) or General Practice (GP) training programme in subsequent years (2016-2021). A small number of the 2015 cohort also remain in the Irish health system either in service grade posts or employed within the private healthcare sector.
