Kate O'Connell (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The delegates from the Medical Council provided the stark statement that more than 50% of non-consultant hospital doctors, NCHDs, are not in training posts. That is an extremely serious problem. When we are discussing waiting lists, different figures, and €20 million for this and that, the whole message can be lost. Will one of the witnesses explain, as concisely as possible, the impact of this particular situation? It seems to me that more than 50% of NCHDs are not wedded to the system. They are almost transient, taking their pay at the end of the week and going home and closing their eyes without a worry. On the other hand, there is a cohort of people working in the system for whom it is their whole life. Nobody does the job the witnesses do for a laugh. To my mind, it is a vocation. What are the impacts on the system into the future when more than half of the people involved are just doing the job and going home, as such? They are doing an important job but they are not in the system and helping to create a matrix that can be built upon.