Report on A&E staff shortages misleading, says Minister Reilly

Health Minister Dr James Reilly said today that a survey highlighting a shortage of senior doctors in Emergency Departments is misunderstood.

The survey, carried out by the Irish Association of Emergency Medicine, suggests that more than half of registrar posts remain unfilled in eight of the country's emergency departments.

They include Temple Street and Connolly Hospital in Dublin, as well as hospitals in Galway, Limerick, Mayo, Kildare and Donegal.

Minister Reilly said that the findings are misleading.

"There are 140 registrars across our emergency department system," he said. "Ninety-nine of those positions are filled by permanent staff. The others are filled by locums.

"Now it would be much preferable to have those locum positions filled by permanent staff, but there's no gap in the service.

"It would be wrong to get the impression that there isn't a doctor there of suitable qualifications."