There has been “no further progress” on achieving consultant status for occupational medicine specialists, according to the IMO. These are the only specialist-trained physicians in the HSE without consultant status.
The IMO informed the Medical Independent (MI) it is seeking further engagement with the HSE on the issue, “as per the occupational health taskforce report.”
The taskforce was convened by the HSE to review and validate “governance design options” for occupational health services under the new regional structure. It had an independent Chair and included representatives from occupational medicine, nursing, administration, trade unions, and senior management.
One of its duties was to “engage with relevant stakeholders” on consultant status, “recognising that progression of this matter will require separate detailed negotiations between the HSE and the IMO.”
The taskforce report, dated July 2025 and released under Freedom of Information law, stated: “This matter is being pursued by the relevant stakeholders (in particular the IMO and HSE), through normal IR [industrial relations] processes. The taskforce would be supportive of immediate endeavours in the IR quarter, which would bring about early conclusion to this engagement on consultant status of occupational health physicians.”
More broadly, the report stated that “concern was consistently voiced by various representatives at the taskforce” about the level of resourcing available to services.
In June, the HSE informed MI: “The report was endorsed by stakeholders and the transition of the HSE occupational health services under the health regions structure has commenced. The HSE remains open to continued engagement with the IMO and other appropriate bodies in relation to the issues raised in respect of consultant status.”
In 2024, the RCPI’s document Priorities for health for the next Government called for consultant status to be awarded to “appropriately trained physicians in occupational medicine to ensure adequate capacity in this specialty to meet demand”.
The lack of consultant status “is a barrier to recruitment and retention, causing delays in occupational health service provision within the health service”.
The document noted that specialists in occupational medicine undertake the same level of training and assessment as other specialties.
Meanwhile, a new report has stated that higher specialist training (HST) intake for occupational medicine needs to increase in the coming years to meet demand.
The report from HSE National Doctors Training and Planning (NDTP) provides an assessment of the future demand for specialists in occupational medicine in Ireland over the period 2025–2038.
It recommends increasing the annual intake by one trainee per year until 2030. As of July 2025, there were three per annum. However, a review of the training recommendations will be required in 2029 to ensure projections are aligned with capacity in the system.
In the foreword, NDTP Medical Director Prof Anto O’Regan stated that occupational medicine is an “increasingly important” specialty, especially as more people remain in employment later in life. He noted the findings indicate that the current workforce and training pipeline “will not be sufficient” to meet projected demand.
“Depending on future models of service delivery, the report projects a requirement for between 144 and 215 whole-time equivalent specialists in occupational medicine by 2038,” wrote Prof O’Regan.
This will require sustained expansion of HST intake alongside “additional recruitment” from outside the Irish training system.
As of 2024, there were 76 specialists in occupational medicine in Ireland. There was a total of 113 doctors delivering occupational medicine services, a proportion of whom were GPs. According to the report, the specialists in occupational medicine worked at an estimated whole-time-equivalent (WTE) rate of 88 per cent.
Approximately 58 per cent of the specialists in occupational medicine were aged over 50 years, “indicating a significant proportion of the workforce is likely to retire” within the period covered by the report.
The report outlined two scenarios that could impact demand. Scenario one assumed all occupational health services are delivered by specialists in occupational medicine. In this case, approximately 220 specialist WTEs would be needed by 2038. In scenario two, there would be continued contribution from other specialist providers, primarily GPs. In this scenario, approximately 148 WTE specialists would be needed by 2038.
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