Michael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The UL department of general practice is proposing a system where graduates who come out of GP training schemes would work in a practice that has difficulty recruiting a doctor. One would put two GPs in a practice and they would work 60% opposite each other so that each would be there three days a week, they would overlap one day a week and the rest of their commitment would be to the university or to a hospital department. One would have an academic career, a service career and a hospital career rolled into a package. One might sign up for a two-year contract on this and then the training scheme or the university would roll that over. One could have at least a supply of service to practices which were unsuccessful in attracting a doctor but here one would have GPs rotating through that practice, providing a service but also giving the doctor the opportunity to expand his or her career.