Dr. Diarmuid Quinlan:

If we look at the medical student side, fewer than 9% of our interns select general practice. International evidence shows very clearly that if we want GPs to work outside the main cities then we need to select people from those areas and in their medical training ensure that a lot of their training is delivered in general practice. Ulster University has the newest medical school in the country and it delivers 30% of its undergraduate training in general practice. In week 1, year 1 in Ulster University, the medical students spend time in general practice. That is not replicated here. It means that our medical students are not exposed to general practice. Ideally, we would have a situation where our universities were adequately resourced to deliver a substantial amount of our medical undergraduate training in general practice. That will increase the number of Irish doctors who choose to work and stay in Irish general practice. We need to look at our medical education systems from the very outset. Looking at the medical students, we need a lot of the training to be delivered in general practice.