NON-CONSULTANT hospital doctors might be suitable as general practitioners if they could access appropriate training, according to Minister for Health Mary Harney who conceded there was a shortage of GPs in the health system.
The Minister said in the Dáil that "we have 6,000 non-consultant hospital doctors and 2,000 consultants and it should be the other way around".
She also said she had met GPs who could not access a GMS list because of a previous industrial relations agreement. "This also needs to be examined so any doctor qualified here as a general practitioner can take on GMS patients. In some areas this has been challenged."
The Minister was responding to Fine Gael spokesman Dr James Reilly who warned that "we have a manpower crisis now. It is not coming down the line, it is here now." He pointed out that there were 52 GPs per 100,000 in the Republic compared to 164 in France and 144 in Austria.
Dr Reilly highlighted survey results which showed that GPs were closing their lists to patients, "with 35 per cent of GPs in the northeast closing lists because they are overworked and cannot take any more patients. This has been coming down the line for some time."
Ms Harney said an agreement was made with the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) "that the number of GP vocational training places should be increased from 84 to 150 on a phased basis over three years".
To date "36 of the additional 66 places have been provided, bringing the total number of training places annually to 120. The further increase to 150 places is being kept under review by the HSE in light of the current budgetary situation."
She added that "a total of 170 extra medical school places have been provided between 2006 and 2007 for Irish and EU students in the existing undergraduate courses and the new graduate entry programme.
A further 95 places will be made available in 2008, with 155 places coming on stream in the next two years.
There are currently 12 GP vocational training programmes in the State and these programmes are accredited by the ICGP."
Dr Reilly said, however, that "within the next 12 years, 50 per cent of the general practitioner population in the country will retire and we are already in trouble before we go there. Two out of three young doctors cannot access GP training," he said.
"This is why it is so important that the Minister accedes to requests for the funding for the 30 additional places."
He added that "even if we want to stand still, we need an average of 200 GP training places a year".
