PURPOSE-BUILT OR bought accommodation blocks for non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs) and other healthcare staff should be considered, according to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly. 

Speaking at the launch of a new report recommending improved working standards for NCHDs (also referred to as junior doctors), the minister said the way junior doctors have been treated in Ireland is “unacceptable” and “extraordinarily foolish”. 

He said new measures aimed at improving recruitment and retention must be progressed “as a matter of urgent priority”.

Donnelly said he wants to ensure the Irish health service becomes an attractive and desirable place to work for medical graduates, stating that today’s report is an important landmark in that process.

Today’s final report contains 44 recommendations, aimed at improving junior doctors work-life balance, include accommodation provision for those working on rotation around different regions in Ireland. 

It also aims to solve the problem of doctors being placed on emergency tax when they change from one hospital to another during their training stints.

Donnelly said he was “horrified” to hear some of the experiences junior doctors have gone through, stating that they no longer trust their employer, which is the state. 

When asked by The Journal today about helping junior doctors to find somewhere to live in the middle of a housing crisis, the minister said currently when a junior doctor is working on rotation as part of their training, a doctor could be working in Cork one week and told four weeks later they are moving to Letterkenny hospital.

“It’s just incredibly difficult,” he said.

Accommodation blocks for doctors 

Doctors the minister has spoken to have said it is near impossible to feel settled, have a long-term relationship “or heaven forbid have children that they’re trying to raise”.

“One of the things we can do is we can keep the rotations more regional, so a move from say Cork to Kerry is still not easy but is a lot easier than say Cork to Letterkenny,” said the minister.

Donnelly said there needs to a be programme office at a regional level established to identify places where people can rent while also having accommodation with long-term tenancies that junior doctors can move into when placements come up. 

“I think we should be looking more at purpose-built or bought accommodation for a few different groups, one of them would be international arrivals, so that we can give them a secure base for whatever period of time. I think NCHDs are an obvious group of people for that as well,” he said. 

If people are placed in different regions around the country, they could be told that they can stay in the accommodation block which the minister said used to be the case in terms of nursing accommodation blocks in the past.

When asked if he would be in favour of rent subsidies for doctors, he said nothing can be ruled out.

However, he acknowledged that the Department of Public Expenditure “get very understandably nervous” about a precedent being set for one group of workers. 

Urging graduates to come home 

The health minister is travelling to Australia for the St Patrick’s Day celebrations next year.

When asked today if he is hoping to bring a message to graduates who have left Ireland that working standards are changing in a bid to get them to come home, the minister said there is a narrative that there isn’t an Irish trained doctor or nurse to be found anywhere because they’re all in Bondi or in Perth.

He said the facts do not support that, stating that the vast majority of those that leave Ireland once they have graduated do return home. 

Healthcare staff should go abroad to get international experience, but “we want them to come home”, he added. 

“Word is getting out that Ireland is a good place to come as a doctor,” he said. 

The government has to “prove” to junior doctors that want to come back to Ireland as a consultant “that we’re serious about them”, said the minister.

“We will demand the very best of them and they can also expect to be treated well by their own country,” he said. 

The minister said government will give a commitment to return within four months with an update on implementation including a costed plan.