Sir, – I read with dismay the news that the HSE is considering the recruitment of overseas doctors to "plug the gaps in the Irish health service" (Letters, May 27th; "HSE recruitment plans condemned", Home News, May 19th). The question is posed "why are Irish-trained doctors leaving our hospitals?"
The Australian health workforce is bolstered by an influx of highly trained and motivated doctors from Ireland and the UK. Recent data from the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine shows that 25 per cent of emergency department registrars in Australia obtained their primary medical degree in Irish or UK universities (566 emergency medicine doctors, 89 of these from Ireland). This is greater than the total number of emergency medicine consultants currently working in the Irish health service. In 2013, the Australian health system saw the largest year-on-year increase in Irish medical migration to their shores.
However, recent proposals to change Australian immigration laws aim to tighten the criteria for the skilled migrant visa (the main entry point for Irish doctors) to ensure that Australian-trained medical graduates are not displaced from Australian hospitals.
Rather than encouraging overseas migration from less developed countries, health workforce strategists in Ireland should focus on retaining and attracting Irish medical graduates back to new and improved conditions in Irish hospitals.
My question is does the HSE have the foresight necessary to implement these changes? – Yours, etc,
Dr CIAN McDERMOTT
Consultant Emergency
Physician,
Geelong Hospital,
Victoria,
Australia.