Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 14 December 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

Recruitment, Retention and Manpower Planning Issues: Irish College of General Practitioners

Dr. John Farrell:

Yes. The plan is for 350 training places by 2026. Going back to the figures, we have more than 4,000 doctors working in general practice, which is equivalent to 2,800 whole-time equivalents, and we need to get to 6,000 doctors working in practice, equivalent to 4,000 whole-time equivalents. That is what we need. It is not 6,000 whole-time equivalents; it is 4,000 whole-time equivalents. It is still a huge ask but it is less than what we were referring to earlier.