Dr. Niamh Humphries:

It needs to be a policy choice. We need to focus on doctor retention and return. I do not think we do anything to encourage emigrant doctors to return. We work off the assumption that those who leave will inevitably return. I do not think that is evidence-based. It is a risky strategy. There is a need to encourage them back and provide them with the working conditions and resourcing needed to encourage them back into the Irish health system. There are a number of reasons that they leave but I do not think we have addressed doctor emigration in any way. We need to look at what they want. They want good working conditions and a reasonable work-life balance.

We need to provide professional reasons for them to want to return. The doctors in Australia who returned were doing so for family reasons, not professional reasons. They were returning to work in Ireland despite the HSE, rather than because of it. They knew they would be taking a step down in their career progression and working life but returned for family reasons.

Ireland needs to give them something to return for. It needs to start trying to encourage them back. They are a huge resource. The 51 doctors I spoke to in Australia were incredibly senior and good at what they do but I was the first person who had asked them why they had left. That is insane. We seem to allow them to drift away and pay no heed to them until they return. Many are considering returning after Covid but Ireland does little to incentivise, encourage or support that return. Ireland could do better. One could see them as a diaspora. All the emigrant doctors around the world are a potential workforce for the health system. We need to actively engage with them and encourage them to return or consider returning by offering terms and conditions that are attractive.