Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

955. To ask the Minister for Health the number of medical graduates from medical schools; the number of such graduates who commenced an internship here; and the number of those graduates who completed internship in each of the years 2016 to 2020, in tabular form. [16665/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The attached tables in Appendix 1 provide details of the number of medical graduates from medical schools from 2015 to 2019 and the number of graduates who commenced internship with the HSE from 2016 to 2020.

The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science have informed my Department that the figures relating to medical graduates for 2020 have not yet been compiled. Therefore, they are not included in the attached table. However, I have included the figures for 2015 so that the Deputy will have the last 5 years data.

It should be noted that each year the applicants for medical internships are a mixture of the CAO medical students, fee paying medical students and EEA applicants who undertook medical school outside of Ireland. Of the available intern posts approximately 680 places are offered to CAO applicants annually.

There are approximately 600 international, fee paying medical students in Ireland each year. It was never envisaged that an intern post would be made available for all medical students studying in Ireland. These students are made aware of this before taking up studies in Ireland. The number of intern places allocated each year are in accordance with HSE workforce and service requirements. The HSE does not set the annual intake into Medical Schools.

The Deputy may wish to note that over the past number of weeks, my Department and the HSE have been reviewing the option to increase the number of medical intern places for July 2021. I have announced an increase of 120 medical intern posts for July 2021. From July 2021 the national number of available intern posts is 854. The increase in the number of intern places will be supported with accompanying increases in postgraduate training places, to ensure these doctors can avail of the next step in the training pathway following completion of an internship.

Over the next number of months, the HSE will be undertaking a formal review of the number of intern posts and postgraduate training positions to ensure the number of intern places are in line with future medical workforce planning requirements of the health service. As part of this review the clinical sites where additional intern posts are most needed will be considered to ensure that the current configuration provides the most efficient and educationally appropriate model.