Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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691. To ask the Minister for Health the estimated cost in 2023 if the number of training places for GPs increased to 293. [51237/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The HSE takes several factors into consideration when making its annual assessment of the number and type of specialist training places required within each specialty including but not limited to, future medical workforce planning projections, the number currently in training and the training capacity within the health system.

The number of GPs entering training has increased steadily over the past number of years, rising from 120 in 2009 to 258 in 2022. The transfer of GP training from the HSE to the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) which was concluded in 2021 will allow for the introduction of a new service model for GP training in Ireland and the further expansion GP training capacity in the years ahead. The ICGP aims to have 350 training places available for new entrants per year by 2026. Until then, the annual increases in training places will be determined on an annual basis by the training capacity of the health system.

The annual year one cost of a doctor on the GP Training Scheme is approximately €100,000. With 258 places filled for the July 2022-23 training year, an increase to 293 places would create an additional 35 places.

Based on these figures, the cost of increasing the trainee intake to 293 places in 2023 would be approximately €3.5 million.