Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would like to make two points in regard to staff retention. I recently came across a case of a GP who was employed in a hospital to provide a particular service but because six months into the job he had not been paid he resigned. That is not the way to about trying to retain staff. The second issue relates to agency staff and the reason some hospitals are experiencing difficulty getting staff on other than the normal HSE contract. Has there been any analysis of what would make this more attractive? While issues such as pay and so on, as per the guidelines, are being adhered to, courses for junior doctors have been cut back. It is important these issues are addressed if we are to retain junior doctors. Many of our interns are emigrating to Australia, New Zealand and Canada because we are doing nothing in terms of making it attractive for them to remain here, particularly in the area of maternity services.

I would like to make a point in regard to maternity services in another country. The level of litigation in that country has increased substantially and most of the people providing maternity services are non-nationals. We are moving down that road. We need to recruit consultants and retain junior doctors. We do not appear to be making it attractive for them to remain in the service, particularly maternity services. We need to review this situation.