Hanafin approves UL medicine graduate course
The university was approved to offer one of a number of graduate medicine courses by Education Minister Mary Hanafin yesterday.
It will take in half of the first 60 degree holders to begin such courses in September — the other 30 are being offered by the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland (RCSI) in Dublin. The CAO has already received more than 500 applications from graduates or people finishing degrees this summer, and they must now nominate which college they want to study at in order of preference.
UL and RCSI will increase their annual graduate intake to medicine programmes to 108 and 40 students.
Ms Hanafin said the remaining 92 of 240 graduate medicine places to be funded by the Government each year will be allocated to UCC, UCD, National University of Ireland, Galway or Trinity College Dublin.
Professor Paul Finucane, head of UL’s School of Medicine, said the minister’s decision affirms the university’s work since 2003 to offer graduate medical education. A key element of its submission was a plan for students to spend six months of their two-year clinical training in general practice, working in local surgeries around the country.
“Only around 5% of training in medical schools is spent in general practice, but we believe it’s important for all doctors to have a high level of exposure to it,” Prof Finucane said.
The university plans a €30 million capital programme to facilitate the programme, including a medical building which should be open in 2009. It hopes to reach agreements with health authorities soon to offer clinical training to students at six hospitals in the mid-west region, as well as hospitals in Mullingar, Tullamore, Kilkenny and Clonmel.
Ms Hanafin said yesterday’s announcement marks another significant milestone in the transformation of medical education in Ireland.
“The new graduate entry programmes are an enormously welcome development in medical education. This new second chance route of entry will alleviate the intense pressures that have come to be associated with the need for extremely high Leaving Certificate points performance for entry to medicine over recent years” she said.
EXTRACTS from letter written by patient to manager of Mayo General Hospital in Castlebar:
I was in A&E from Saturday night, February 24, until Tuesday evening, on a trolley and in a corridor for most of the time.
No pillow. The blanket I was given had a blood-type stain. Only the gents toilets working and available to patients and families. A man on a trolley no more than four feet away was very disturbed. I felt very vulnerable.
At about midnight, I was put into a treatment room along with two ladies. One had suspected double pneumonia the other had pleurisy.
In the morning, we were brought onto a corridor. We could hear the wind whistling through the door.
The ladies toilet was in operation again but was being used by men. There was nowhere to shower.
Only food was sandwich or salad. Told that new rule was that those on trolleys could not have hot food for safety reasons. I witnessed elderly lady being linked down the corridor whose nappy fell off.
Male patient walking up and down in his underpants. At 2am, brought back to treatment room for the night.
The toilets were absolutely filthy, and I can’t begin to describe the stench. Trolleys were taken off us and we were given chairs. Belongings under chair. No visible security.
Man with no English very agitated. He attempted to have cigarette. He needed to be restrained in X-ray room as he was extremely agitated. Sirens of squad cars. People asked to evacuate. Told it was for our own safety. People on trolleys left in corridor. Gardaí arrived in A&E and I saw the poor man handcuffed. Gardaí were there for well over an hour.
Let me just point out there were 30 plus people on trolleys who had no visible security, no privacy, no wash facilities and no hot food for days.
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