Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Would it also be possible to change the inputs to gather that information in the future?

It will be very useful to know, from a geographical perspective, the facilities such people left, the final posts they held and their specialties. That information is incredibly important to us; we are talking about it all the time.

The Medical Council does not distinguish between public and private. The geographical spread of access to private practice in Ireland is interesting. For example, in the mid west, the area in which myself and Dr. Harty live, essentially, there is no private hospital. We have the former Barringtons Hospital in Limerick but there is no fully private hospital. The level of private practice in certain disciplines in University Hospital Limerick, UHL, is among the highest in the country. There are options in other areas such as Galway, Cork and Dublin. Is there any correlation between doctors and consultants leaving practice and their access and attitude towards private versus public practice?