Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 18: To ask the Minister for Health if he will make a statement on the survey carried out by the Irish Association of Emergency Medicine, which suggests that more than half of registrar posts remain unfilled in eight of the country's emergency departments. [8340/12]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The shortage of Registrars in Emergency Medicine is an issue not just in Ireland, but internationally. Approximately 36 Registrar posts in Emergency Medicine are currently filled by locum/agency staff. This means that a doctor is in post to provide the service.

However, the HSE is pursuing a number of measures to address the dependence on agency staff and ensure appropriate availability of senior medical personnel in Emergency Departments. These include:

making maximum use of the work practice flexibilities embedded in Consultant Contract 2008 and the Public Service Agreement 2010-2014 to ensure that Consultants in Emergency Medicine are rostered to provide clinical services in the Emergency Department in line with service demands;

changes in General Medical and General Surgical rostering arrangements to provide a greater level of support to Emergency Departments;

a review of current staffing levels of all disciplines in Emergency Medicine, to ensure a sustainable staffing model into the future that is less reliant on junior doctors; and

evaluating the scope for the recruitment of Emergency Medicine Registrars from abroad.

I have previously expressed my concerns about the large numbers of qualified Irish doctors travelling abroad, the career structure for doctors and the recent difficulties in filling non-consultant hospital doctor posts. Last November, I appointed a project leader and an advisory group to progress the development of a proposal for the creation of a new Specialist grade of doctor for those who have completed their higher specialist training. The advisory group comprises representatives of my Department, the Health Service Executive, Medical Council, Post Graduate Forum and student doctors in specialist training. A draft interim report was provided to me in recent weeks and I am currently considering it.