Sign up now for ease of access to The Medical Independent, Ireland’s most frequently published medical newspaper, delivering award-winning news and investigative reporting.
Established in 2010, along with its sister publication The Medical Independent, our stated aim is to investigate and analyse the major issues affecting healthcare and the medical profession in Ireland. The Medical Independent has won a number of awards for its investigative journalism, and its stories are frequently picked up by national digital, broadcast and print media. The Medical Independent is published by GreenCross Publishing.
Address: Top Floor, 111 Rathmines Road Lr, Dublin 6
Tel: 353 (01) 441 0024
GreenCross Publishing is owned by Graham Cooke.
You are reading 1 of 2 free-access articles allowed for 30 days
According to the progress report, which relates to the period August 2017 to January 2018, NCHDs acknowledged “significant progress” had been made in areas such as flexible training; the recognition of prior learning in general practice; the medical careers day and medical careers website; National Employment Record; and Lead NCHD roll-out to general practice.
However, NCHDs reported “a general sense of inertia” with regard to the implementation process and described “no measurable changes” in working conditions over the past year.
“Certain issues, it was reported, which affected all trainees, had a negative impact on their training, working conditions, and private lives. Urgent action was required concerning three critical areas, viz protected training time; inadequate funding of training; and the non-transfer of tasks,” stated the progress report.
“With regard to these three areas, concern was expressed that hospitals were very service-focused, and [it was] felt that operational managers viewed NCHD training as ‘an optional extra’; trainees were of the view that they should not have to pay for mandatory courses, and that payments for these courses should be made directly by the HSE.”
It is intended that the HSE “will be requested to henceforth prioritise work” in the areas of protected training time; non-core task allocation; the reimbursement of education-related fees; and the issue of service posts.
“This new focus will be reflected in the format of future progress reports,” the report stated.
Under the MacCraith process, health service management and the IMO undertook to review the continuing education requirements of NCHDs “to ensure that the requisite financial and related resources are administered”. This was to be conducted through the Workforce Relations Commission.
The HSE informed the <strong><em>Medical Independent</em></strong> the review was ongoing and it was “confident that agreement will be reached”. <em>A Programme for a Partnership Government</em> (2016) committed to implementing “the remaining elements” of the MacCraith Report “to assist in the recruitment and retention of key medical staff”.
The MacCraith Working Group completed its work in June 2014 and, in all, submitted three reports with 25 recommendations.
The HSE is still unable to confirm a date for the publication of the long-delayed National...
The HSE has not sought funding from the Department of Health to meet the community service...
The ICGP is examining alternative pathways for entry into general practice training as part of efforts...
In December, the HSE released part of an external review into the case of 'Brandon', a...
The evidence on doctor burnout “should scare us and concern us”, the Director of the RCSI...
A review of public health governance structures and addressing “longstanding” IT infrastructure...
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.