Almost half of graduates from Irish medical schools fail to get place on GP training course

A senior member of the Irish College of GPs described the rejection rate as horrendous: 'We are telling 160 doctors who have applied for training, that they are not good enough. They will emigrate.' iStock

This year, 349 graduates from Irish medical schools applied for 350 GP training places but 161 of them were not accepted, internal data from the Irish College of GPs shows.

It is understood this rejection rate is being seen as “horrendous” by some senior GPs, with concerns being expressed about what this means for graduates deemed not successful.

However, the Irish College of GPs defended the figures, saying graduates from Irish medical schools were three times more likely to get a training place than applicants from schools outside the EU.

The figures, seen by the Irish Examiner, do not relate to nationality with some colleges abroad having Irish students among their graduates and Irish colleges having international students among their graduates.

There were 1,311 applicants including graduates of medical colleges in Ireland, Britain, across the EU, and outside the EU.

One senior member of the Irish College of GPs, who is a GP trainer, described the situation as “horrendous”, saying a rejection rate of “20 or 30” might have been expected.

He suggested this raises questions about Irish education systems if graduates are being “eclipsed” by better candidates from colleges in other countries.

“From my perspective, we need to look at this,” he said.

We are telling 160 doctors who have applied for training, that they are not good enough. They will emigrate. 

However Cathy Cullen, national director of specialist training in general practice at the Irish College of GPs, said this is not the case.

“There are no concerns about graduates from Irish medical schools,” Dr Cullen said.

 “GP training is a very competitive specialty and there is a robust evidence-based selection process.

“In fact, a graduate from an Irish medical school is three times more likely than one from another country to be successful in being offered a place.”

Dr Cullen pointed out that the figures show “only 17% of non-EU applicants were successful”.

The college “has no active concerns” about the standard of applicants from Irish colleges and has not seen the need to query these findings with universities, she said.

They are happy with the quality of the trainees chosen, she added.

The number of training places has increased in recent years from as low as 30 to 350, which she welcomed.

The data shows that, overall, more women than men were successful at 57%.

Some 75% of successful applicants were aged between 25 and 34.

Breaking it down by citizenship, the 1,311 applicants included 408 Irish citizens, 68 citizens of the UK and EU countries, and 835 from non-EU countries.