The combined impact of ageing general practitioners and the emigration preferences of newly qualifying GPs threatens the future of general practice, the Irish College of General Practitioners has said.
Analysis of the organisation’s membership data shows there are 2,773 active GPs nationwide and 18 vacant posts, some of which have been unfilled for more than three years, though locums are in place. One post, on the Aran Islands, has been vacant for more than seven years.
Up to a fifth of GPs are aged 60 or older and almost a third are over 55. In some rural areas GPs are older, including Carlow where 36 per cent of GPs are over 60, and in Clare, Cork, Laois, and Wexford, where the figure is 28 per cent.
Separate research by the organisation last year showed more than 12 per cent of trainees were planning to emigrate after qualifying.
