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(32) 16 33 74 64

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(32) 16 33 74 80

IRELAND

Basic Medical Education

There are four University medical schools and one independent medical school; all have undergraduate departments of General Practice. There are about 660 graduates per year about 330 of them are foreign graduates (mainly non-EU graduates).

Postgraduate specialist training

There are eleven independent GP training programmes with a total intake of 75 trainees. It is intended to expand the intake to 100 over the next couple of years, with the addition of one or two new schemes. For the last ten years places on the training schemes are highly prized and training schemes have attracted the highest calibre of graduate. A national conference was held to discuss the expansion of numbers in training and also the length of training. Many of the schemes are now extending training to four years. The additional year will be spent in the Community, i.e. in general practice. The official policy of the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) is to extend training to five years; that is two years rotating through hospital specialist training posts and then three years in supervised training in General Practice.

Continuing Medical Education

There is an active network of local ICGP faculties each with one or more CME groups, which are supported by CME tutors. These CME tutors are remunerated by the ICGP for their work in supporting these groups. Quality assurance programmes are to be introduced by the Medical Council for each of the different craft groups within the profession.

Health Care

There is a mixed public health and private care system, which was grossly under-funded throughout the 1980's during a period of financial hardship. We now enjoy a much-improved financial situation, however the medical infrastructure is badly in need of a great deal of investment to increase the numbers of acute hospital beds and general facilities. General Practice is still the poor relation in the medical family and does not receive proper funding.