OVER 1,000 GPs who qualified in Ireland have begun working with the NHS over the last five years according to the Irish Medical Organisation.
The IMO say that this is the equivalent of seven years output of Irish trained GPs that are going straight to the UK.
The union are blaming the Government for the loss of doctors abroad and say that Ireland could be facing a GP shortage.
“If we don’t change tack now, we will look back in five years time and we will trace the decline of our high standards of GP services to 2014 and the mistakes that are being made now,” said the IMO’s Ray Walley.
A further 200 or more GPs currently working in Ireland are close to or beyond normal retirement age and are expected to leave the service in the coming years further exacerbating the situation.
The IMO has been locked in a dispute with the Government over the proposal to introduce free GP care for under-sixes and in particular the re-reimbursement contract for GPs.
“Any substantial change to the current GMS contact for GPs needs to be negotiated with the IMO as the licensed trade union for GPs in Ireland,” Walley said about the dispute.
The Union of Students of Ireland recently launched a campaign to halt a reduction in pay for student nurses which they say encourages emigration among recently qualified health professionals.
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