IMO paper predicts chronic shortage of doctors

THE training of junior doctors in Ireland is woefully under-funded, lacks strategic planning, and the number of available places is far below the necessary quota, according to the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO).

The verdict is contained in the IMO’s newly published position paper on medical schools, which is reported in this month’s edition of Irish Medical News.

The IMO says the low level of newly-trained doctors, combined with the high level of GPs approaching retirement age in the next decade, could lead to a chronic shortage of doctors in Ireland.