Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am disappointed that no substantial progress has been made in the two years since our meeting in 2011. As I have consistently pointed out, we are able to offer two-year contracts to graduates from Pakistan whereas, and I do not care what the training bodies are saying, we are still stuck with six-month contracts for people who are on training programmes. Given that this problem was evident two years ago, I fail to understand the reason no progress of any description has been made in stabilising the position. Any junior doctor in Ireland can secure a two or three-year contract with two or three different hospitals in the United Kingdom. This has been practice in the UK for the past 25 years but is not being done to a sufficient extent for Irish graduates in our system.

Mr. Condon referred to smaller obstetric units. There are 12 units operating with a one-in-three rota. I know of one unit which sought to recruit a fourth consultant but the HSE withdrew the appointment after interviews had been held. The person to be appointed, who was an Irish graduate, subsequently moved to Canada to work and no explanation was ever given for the failure to appoint a fourth consultant. I do not accept that the smaller obstetric units have been offered four consultants. Many of the hospitals in question are being offered doctors who are at the lower end of the scale in terms of ability. There are people on one-in-three rotas who are working 12 days in a row without a break, not from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. but until 2 a.m., 3 a.m. or 4 a.m., the reason being that the quality of junior doctors being offered to them has declined significantly. This issue has not been addressed by the HSE in the past two years.

On the recruitment of doctors from India and Pakistan, I have been informed that 300 such doctors were recruited but I will not argue with Dr. Browne who indicated the figure is 220. This year, 30 doctors have been recruited from the region. Did we put our foot in it, as it were, three years ago when we placed doctors who had been recruited from India and Pakistan in rented accommodation and gave them food vouchers for three or four months? I have met senior consultants from Pakistan and India who have received feedback from junior doctors from their home countries that they walked away from positions in Ireland because of the treatment they received two years ago. Is this the reason only 30 doctors from India and Pakistan applied for positions in the Irish health service this year compared to 220 two years ago? These questions must be answered if we are to avoid the mistakes of the past.

The training bodies should not dictate what is to be done if the system is not working and we are not filling posts. While the problem is especially acute in hospitals outside the major cities, I understand that two vacancies in accident and emergency units in Cork city have not been filled since 1 January.

The OECD has been critical of the number of junior doctors Ireland is recruiting from developing countries. What is the deadline for reaching agreement with the training bodies on restructuring our approach to employing doctors? We have the same debate every year and as yet no deadline has been set for establishing a new structure.