A “chronic inability” to attract applicants to vacant medical posts is having a serious impact on the provision of healthcare in Ireland, the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has warned.

It pointed out that over 900,000 people are on some form of waiting list for treatment, and over 290,000 of these, or more than the population of Galway, have already been waiting for at least one year.

According to the IMO, there are vacant posts across all medical specialties and Ireland is currently well below the OECD average when it comes to the recommended number of consultants and GPs required per head of population.

It noted that some advertised posts have not received a single applicant and at least one in five consultant posts remain vacant. Furthermore, NCHDs are continuing to emigrate “at high levels”.

Some 3,000 doctors have left Ireland to take up positions abroad over the last five years, according to the Medical Council register, while almost 30% of consultants and a similar proportion of GPs are due to retire in the next five years.

The IMO pointed out that NCHDs must regularly work hours in excess of legal limits to fill gaps, while international doctors who want to work in Ireland face ongoing problems with visa applications.

As a result, levels of stress and burnout are “unsustainably high”.

“After two years of being on the frontline of the Covid-19 battle, doctors are exhausted yet are unable to get a break due to our inability to recruit staff to the system,” commented Dr Denis McCauley, chair of the IMO’s GP Committee.

He noted that in the case of GPs, many around the country have been unable to secure locums to allow them to take annual leave, while there are no supports to encourage younger GPs to establish practices.

“The current contract does not reflect modern general practice and we must urgently address the systemic issues that are making the specialty unattractive to our new graduates,” Dr McCauley said.

Meanwhile the chair of the IMO’s Consultants’ Committee, Dr Clive Kilgallen, said that Ireland’s inability to recruit consultants “is unfortunately not a new phenomenon”.

“We simply do not have enough doctors to fill critically important positions all across Ireland, a problem which stems from the enactment of two-tier consultant pay inequality nearly a decade ago, and patients are the ones who have suffered as a result,” he insisted.

Dr Kilgallen said that within the system, consultants are not supported with the resources to deliver care.

“We have too few beds, too few health professionals and an ever-increasing demand. No doctor will be surprised if the waiting list goes beyond a million over the coming months. The pandemic has not caused the crisis in our healthcare system, but it has deepened it,” he warned.

He added that “we need to listen to doctors and see what will make them stay in Ireland”.

“Other governments and healthcare systems value Irish doctors and we should do at least the same. We all want what is best for the patient, but current policies are not delivering on this core value”.