Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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668. To ask the Minister for Health in relation to the plan to increase the number of medicine graduates by 200, the way he plans to respond to the increased recruitment in terms of the talent pipeline being created through graduates; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48411/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Health and Social Care workforce planning and ensuring an appropriate pipeline of suitably qualified healthcare professionals in Ireland is a top priority for the Government. The Programme for Government commits the Department of Health to working with the education sectors, regulators, and professional bodies to improve the availability of health professionals and reform their training to support integrated care across the entire health service.

Working with the Department of Further and Higher Education and the Irish Medical Schools we have succeeded in securing an additional 200 medicine student places for Irish/EU students over next 4 years. An extra 60 places are being provided in 2022 with the remaining 140 places over the next 4 years. My Department is working with the Department of Further and Higher Education and the Medical Schools to accelerate the pace and availability of these additional student places in the coming years.

In addition to increasing the number undergraduate student places in medicine for Irish/EU studentsthere has been a steady annual increase in postgraduate training posts in the HSE in line with medical workforce planning projections. In total, there has been a 42% increase in the number of trainees over the last 10 years. The number of interns increased by 17%, the Basic Training intake increased by 19% and the Higher Specialist Training intake increased by 14% over the last 5-year period up to 2022. An additional 40 annual Post Certificate ofSatisfactory Completion of Specialist Training (CSCST) Fellowships posts were established since 2021.

The total number of doctors currently enrolled in a training programme in 2022 is approximately 5,000. This represents an 19% increase in the number of trainees since 2019.