Dr. Niamh Humphries:

It is expected that hospital doctors have international experience. I do not have figures. There was a figure that 90% of consultants have international experience. It stemmed from the situation where Ireland could not provide training in certain fields. It has continued as a tradition and it is expected now. The international fellowship is usually 12 to 18 months. Doctors tend to do that after higher specialist training, HST. In Australia, I found that people would come for the international fellowship and within that 12- or 18-month period they would be offered a consultancy there. The international fellowship is what people do after they complete their HST in Ireland and before they get a consultancy.

The reason for going abroad for an international fellowship is to wait for vacancies to arise in the Irish health system. Even though someone may be fully trained as a specialist doctor, there is no vacancy to match that person. In terms of workforce planning, it is hard to get your head around the fact that we have people who put so much time, energy and effort into training in a particular specialty and there is not necessarily a job for them at the end of it. They go abroad, wait to see what consultant posts come up in the Irish health system and then apply for them. In the meantime, however, they may well get offers from the country they are resident in at the time for their fellowship, be that America, Australia or any other country.