Ms Shirley Coulter:

The Deputy concerned asked about the WHO guidelines and career progression. The guidelines on ethical recruitment from developing countries have been adopted by the HSE. They state medical staff recruited from developing countries must be provided with a certain level of training rather than simply being used to provide a service, which seems to be the case in Ireland. They further state further medical training in the developing country should be supported by the recruiting country. It is questionable whether the HSE is applying the guidelines in this case.

On the issue of career progression, Deputy Mary Mitchell O'Connor was referring to a piece in our previous submission about matching the numbers of NCHDs with specialist posts. There needs to be an increase in the number of specialist consultant and general practitioner posts. There is a disconnect between the number of NCHDs in training who will complete training and the number of specialist posts available for them.