Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

I submitted this matter to get clarity on the shortage of junior hospital doctors, non-consultant hospital doctors and the need to fill the gaps on certain areas. What is the current position in all hospitals? Will the Minister for Health furnish me with the details of every hospital and those in which the Medical Council stated adequate supervision was not in place?

We passed emergency legislation before the recess - the Medical Practitioners (Amendment) Act - to facilitate the recruitment of additional junior doctors. It was reported on 6 September that just 60 of the 280 junior doctors recruited in India and Pakistan had been given the go-ahead to work in our hospitals. It was also reported that more than 30 of the junior doctor recruits failed the clinical skills examination. Will the Minister confirm if those details are correct?

When he introduced the Medical Practitioner's (Amendment) Bill, the Minister stated:

Some 450 posts, including approximately 180 non-consultant hospital doctor vacancies, mostly in-service rather than training posts, are due to be filled from 11 July when the next rotation takes place. The number of vacancies is decreasing on an ongoing basis as doctors are appointed via the HSE centralised recruitment process. Following an intensive recruitment drive by the HSE, more than 200 doctors from India and Pakistan have applied to fill these vacancies.

I ask the Minister for the up-to-date figures in that regard. What are the other posts to which he referred at that time and about which we spoke at some length? Of the 450 posts, 180 related to non-consultant hospital doctor vacancies. To what range of specialties and consultant posts did the balance of posts correspond? I seek the detail of the other posts and how many of them have been filled through the normal recruitment procedure process.

What is the Minister's view on the reported cost of €113,768 to send 36 people from the HSE to India and Pakistan for ten days to recruit the doctors? That significant expenditure is another reason to ensure a new and better recruitment practice, something he is already on the record as supporting.

The Medical Practitioners (Amendment) Act facilitates - for the time being only - the current system or, should I say, at least prevents its collapse and the consequent loss of services. As I asked during the passage of the Bill, for how long will this ramshackle structure stand before it is replaced by a proper system of medical training and hospital staffing? This year's experience must be the last of what I can only describe as panic recruitment by the HSE. Will the Minister commit to making the required changes to banish those bad recruitment practices to the past where they belong? What is the Minister for Health's plan to end the reliance on junior doctors and to get better value for patients from consultants? He has also shown an interest in achieving this. Does he have such a plan on the resumption of the new Dáil term?

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