Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 225: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the progress in regard to the commitment given in the Programme for Government to implement the restructuring of medical education including an increase in training places and post-graduate medical degrees; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18343/08]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The provision of third-level medical education, including undergraduate medical school places, is a matter in the first instance for the Minister for Education and Science, Batt O'Keeffe T.D., advised by the Higher Education Authority.

Government policy, based on the Report of the Working Group on Undergraduate Medical Education and Training (Fottrell) and the Report of the Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Group (Buttimer), published in February 2006, provides for the number of medical school places for EU students to be increased from 305 to 725. This will be made up of a new graduate entry stream, which will provide an additional 240 EU medical school places per annum on the basis of 60 per year over a 4 year period, and increasing the number of EU undergraduate places to 485 on the basis of substitution of 180 non-EU places.

A total of 170 extra medical school places have been provided between 2006 and 2007 for Irish/EU students in the existing undergraduate courses and in the new graduate entry programme (110 undergraduate places and 60 graduate entry places). A further 95 places (35 undergraduate places and 60 graduate entry places) will be made available in 2008 with the remaining 155 places (35 undergraduate places and 120 graduate entry places) coming on stream over the next 2 years.

The reforms in medical education which have been agreed with the universities and the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland include a new entry mechanism to undergraduate medical education to be introduced from 2009 to replace the current selection system.

The plan, approved by Government, provides for an expansion of intern posts from 2011 to accommodate an eventual 240 EU places from the new graduate entry stream. There are currently sufficient numbers of intern posts in the health service to place any Irish/EU students graduating in the next 3 years.

The Medical Practitioners Act 2007 provides the statutory basis for many of the reforms proposed in the Buttimer Report including phasing out non-consultant hospital doctors posts of limited training value.

The Health Service Executive Medical Education, Training and Research Unit (HSE-METR) has been co-ordinating the funding flow and implementation of the Buttimer Report recommendations in the area of postgraduate medical education and training since 2006.

Progress on the reform of postgraduate medical education and training includes: two research scholarships awarded by the HSE in 2007 to medical trainees; eight scholarships under the HSE's newly established programme of training abroad for specialist registrars and senior registrars (the "HSE-Dr. Richard Steevens Scholarship"); the 13 postgraduate Training Bodies have begun the process of developing generic modules and team working in a multidisciplinary context; the postgraduate Training Bodies are investigating international best practice to develop competency-based assessment, as opposed to time-based progression. This will assist in addressing the duration of training as well as affording greater opportunities to those in posts with limited training value; a capital audit of medical education and training facilities has recommended that any investment in facilities should provide for appropriate multidisciplinary use of on-site and off-site facilities, to maximise value-for-money.