David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 130: To ask the Minister for Defence the number of medical doctors currently serving in the Defence Forces; the locations at which these doctors are posted; the number and location of any vacant medical doctor posts; if he intends to fill these posts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26622/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Based on the global medical requirement across the Defence Forces as a whole, there is a current requirement for approximately 32 doctors within the Defence Forces Medical Corps. There are currently sixteen doctors serving in the Permanent Defence Force and the table below shows the locations where these doctors are currently posted.

The recently completed Medical Services Review recommended a programme of major change in the structure of the Defence Forces Medical Corps. In the new structure, medical personnel within the Defence Forces will come under one central command, the Central Medical Unit, which will have responsibility for the management and delivery of medical services, including the allocation of doctors across the system on the basis of demand and operational requirements. This Central Medical Unit will mandate change across the service and deploy resources centrally, locally and overseas as required. This approach will better support delivery of all care requirements, as both demand and capacity can be pooled and managed centrally and be deployed and redeployed more flexibly across the system.

A competition for the appointment of doctors to the Medical Corps was advertised and applications are currently being processed in this regard. While the competition remains open and further applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis, it will take some time before we have achieved the current target of 32 doctors in the Defence Forces. Alternative arrangements to address the ongoing shortfall in medical officers are being developed by the Central Medical Unit.