David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 8: To ask the Minister for Defence further to Parliamentary Question No. 130 of 28 September 2011, the progress that has been made with the recruitment of additional doctors to the medical corps; the number of doctors currently serving in the Permanent Defence Force; the locations at which these doctors are posted; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31562/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

A competition for the appointment of doctors to the Medical Corps was advertised. Unfortunately, there was a limited response and only two applications are currently being processed in this regard. The competition remains open and a further advertisement will be published shortly. Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis but it will obviously take some time before the current target of 32 doctors in the Defence Forces can be achieved. Against that background, alternative arrangements to address the ongoing shortfall in medical officers are being developed by the central medical unit in consultation with the Department, including the potential to retain contracted doctors or a contracted medical service provider to meet the deficiencies.

There are currently 16 doctors serving in the Permanent Defence Force and the following table, which will be circulated, shows the locations where those doctors are currently posted.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Would the Minister agree that this is a matter of some concern, in particular, when one takes into account that one of the major roles of medical doctors in the Defence Forces is assessing personnel to decide whether they are fit to continue in the Defence Forces or should be discharged? Is the Minister aware of any delays in this procedure? Would he agree that some other method, such as the contracting of doctors, should be brought into play as a matter of urgency and can he give a little more information as to the position in that regard?

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

We have been contracting doctors; that has been the alternative. The ideal in the PA Consulting report shows that there would be 32 permanent members of the Medical Corps. The difficulty in reality is that posts have been advertised, funding is available to fill those posts but too few applications from appropriately qualified doctors have been received.

This is an issue that has been a matter of some concern to me and to the Defence Forces, but there is no gap in the provision of medical services because in the context of the shortfall of numbers who are part of the Permanent Defence Forces, doctors have been contracted and, indeed, local medical practitioners are also available for use.

There is no question of appropriate medical assessments not being undertaken or of appropriate medical treatment not being provided where that is required, but I would prefer to be in a position where the PA Consulting report in this context had been fully implemented. I believe my predecessor had some difficulty in that regard and it remains a difficulty.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Is the Minister considering any other strategy to attract doctors to enlist in the Permanent Defence Forces? Are there any particular reasons there is such disinterest? Is it the way there is a lack of doctors out there who are interested and trained?

Would the Minister undertake to inquire whether there are delays in medical board dealings with personnel? I understand that there may be some difficulties in that area.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Essentially, part of the issue may be that there are pay issues in the context of the constraints on the pay available for the recruitment of doctors.

There are also career issues with regard to doctors who have become part of the medical service within what is, by international standards, a small defence force. Some medical practitioners do not see that there is a substantial career advancement to be effected as a medic as such once they are employed in general medical issues within the Defence Forces.

Coming back to the question Deputy Stanton raised originally, the central medical unit does use the service of civilian medical practitioners to provide backup to the medical corps in ensuring that the health care requirements of all Defence Force personnel are met and civilian doctors and dentists are employed on an ongoing sessional basis, both inside and outside barracks, to maintain the services required.

In addition, the medical unit, in consultation with the Department, is looking at the potential to retain contracted doctors or, as I stated earlier, a contracted medical provider service. One may have, in the context of a particular barracks, a doctor who has work within a community but who is contracted also to the Defence Forces but who is not a member of the Defence Forces as the 16 who have been recruited would be.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

It strikes me that this is a job that would challenge somebody. The Defence Forces have been ahead of the curve in terms of recruitment campaigns that attracted applicants. Apart from pay issues, have they reviewed the reasons for the lack of response to the advertisement and have they had any consultations with the Medical Council or with any of the medical educational facilities with a view to encouraging academic credits for those who may be willing to spend a few years in the Defence Forces?

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

To address the question Deputy Calleary has raised, if one looks at what I describe as the role of the medical officer in the Defence Forces first, basically, it is a specialist officer who practises medicine, not only at home but abroad. One of the attractions of joining the Defence Forces as a medic is the opportunity to accompany forces abroad in circumstances that would be quite different from providing a medical practice at home - there is one medic in the Lebanon at present.

The medical practice focuses on health protection, education, primary care and environmental medicine. In addition to their medical role, medical officers are expected to lead and manage the personnel of the medical corps.

One must realise that, for example, if on a mission abroad a member of the Defence Forces took seriously ill and required medical surgery, the doctor accompanying the medical corps who was abroad with them would not be the person usually to undertake that type of surgery. There are medical personnel from states with far greater numbers in their defence forces and who within their defence forces retain the specialties required in different surgical areas to provide that type of expertise. The Defence Forces are small and funding is limited. A general practitioner joining the Defence Forces is unlikely to advance in a medical career. Such a person may be promoted by the Army but is unlikely to advance beyond being a general medical practitioner who has developed some specialised knowledge in the area of medical problems arising in an army or naval context. There is a limit to what one can achieve as a medical practitioner within the Defence Forces. I will use this opportunity to say that the Defence Forces provide a singular opportunity for young, well-qualified medics to experience a very interesting engagement for a period of their lives in a form of public service that gives rise to opportunities they would not normally have. I am very hopeful that in the current financial climate the new advertising campaign might attract more applications than was the case previously.