Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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284. To ask the Minister for Defence further to Parliamentary Question No. 1 of 14 January 2015 and his statement that medical assessment of Defence Forces personnel forms part of the training regime and that Defence Forces personnel, who are fit, strong, healthy young men and women, are still obliged to see GPs to ensure they meet the standards expected of them; the number of times on average per annum that a member of Defence Forces is referred to a general medical practitioner on this basis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3470/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The provision of medical services within the Defence Forces is a combination of primary care and an occupational medical service designed to ensure that Defence Forces personnel are medically fit to undertake the duties assigned to them and to treat any medical conditions arising which would inhibit their capacity to undertake such duties . Occupational medicine focuses on a combination of preventative medicine, health promotion, medical supervision and medical assessment. Such medical oversight is necessary in order to maintain a Force that is operationally ready for the tasks assigned by Government.

The Defence Forces Medical Corps is responsible for the delivery of medical services to Defence Forces personnel. The Medical Corps, in addition to the administrative staff of the Central Medical Unit, comprises Medical Officers ( i.e. qualified medical doctors , dentists and pharmacists ) and other medical professionals who provide the services, augmented by contracted doctors, dentists, and other specialised medical professionals engaged to provid e medical services to the Defence Forces.

In relation to primary care, a key element of the medical services provided to the Defence Forces is the daily surgery, referred to as “sick parade”. In an ideal world sick parades would be delivered by Defence Forces Medical Officers only. However, due to a shortage of Medical Officers within the Defence Forces in recent years sick parades are delivered by a mix of Defence Forces Medical Officers and civilian doctors engaged on a contract for services basis.

Additionally, in circumstances where a member of the Defence Forces requires the services of a GP after hours and he or she does not live in the vicinity of a Military Medical Facility, they may attend a local GP. Similarly, if a soldier is injured on a training exercise and requires immediate medical assistance, they can be sent to a local GP or hospital if necessary.

In relation to the occupational medical service, all members of the Permanent Defence Force are required to undergo a mandatory medical examination at least once in every twelve month period. Currently all annual medical assessments are carried out by Defence Forces Medical Officers . However again due to the difficulty experienced in recruiting doctors to the Defence Forces there was a need to identify alternative options for the provision of this medical service. In this context, a Request for Tender for the provision of Occupational Medical Examinations for military personnel issued in late 2014. It is anticipated that a contract to conduct these examinations will be awarded shortly. This contract is for the provision of 1,200 occupational medical examinations. This contract is not to replace the work of the Defence Forces Medical Corps, rather it is intended that it will supplement its work in this area.

It can be seen from the above that there are a number of different scenarios where a member of the Defence Forces may need to attend a general medical practitioner (be it a Defence Forces Medical Officer or a civilian doctor).

I have been advised by the Military Authorities that it is not possible to extract from the Medical Module of the Personnel Management System (PMS) the number of times per annum that a member of the Defence Forces is referred to a general medical practitioner. Therefore, there is no way of providing this information without examining every medical record of every member.

I am also advised that further development of the PMS or implementation of a new IT system is required to enable this level of data to be recorded. I understand that work on scoping such a future medical information system has been initiated recently.