Poor conditions driving Irish doctors abroad
STRAINED working conditions have led to Ireland haemorrhaging hospital-trained doctors to Australia, a study has shown.
Ireland has been losing doctors in large numbers over the last decade to the UK, US, Canada and New Zealand, but Australia is the destination of choice, according to testimony from Irish medics who have migrated Down Under.
Old-school hierarchies and the lack of consultants in hospitals, as well as frustration over getting procedures done such as CT scans are identified as key factors in the mass medic migration from Ireland.
Since the 2008 recession, Irish doctor migration has increased year on year, with 627 doctors emigrating by 2014. The number of Irish doctors issued with working visas in Australia more than doubled from 153 in 2008/09 to 326 in 2017/18. While migration has been soaring, the study reveals the proportion of internationally trained doctors in Ireland has more than tripled from 13% in 2000 to 42% in 2017.
In the study, funded by the Health Research Board, interviews were carried out with 24 consultants, 10 junior doctors, and 17 senior trainees.
In the paper, the number of consultants on the floor in Australian hospitals was described as ‘incredible’ whereas the visibility of consultants in Irish hospitals was seen as rare.
‘There were many times… you’d be the only one treating them [patients], and you’d call in for help and no one would turn up,’ a senior trainee said of his experience in Ireland.
‘You’re completely on your own… I was very unsupported a lot of the time,’ said another.
Dr Niamh Humphries, Reader in Health Systems Research at the College of Physicians of Ireland, carried out the research along with Dr John-Paul Byrne, as part of a four-year project examining hospital doctor retention.
‘I think a lot of them would prefer to be working in Ireland but the terms and conditions of the job in Australia are so much better,’ said Dr Humphries. ‘We’re losing a lot of the Irish-trained doctors, and we bring in the internationally trained doctors to take their place, almost, but the things the doctors are dissatisfied with remain unchanged. Staffing is a really important part of that. Ireland needs more specialists, more consultants.’
Despite Ireland having similar levels of per capita health expenditure, Australia has more physicians and hospital beds.
The authors said the findings indicate retention of hospital doctors is as much about the quality of the work experience, as it is about the quantity and composition of the workforce.
‘Crucially, this can create working contexts in which doctors flourish or from which they seek an escape,’ it said.
‘Things that dissatisfy staff remain unchanged’