The new president of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has warned that Ireland’s health service is facing a “series of crises” including unacceptably long waiting lists, exhaustion and poor morale among its workforce and major recruitment problems.

According to Dr Clive Kilgallen, the Covid pandemic exposed the fragility of the health system, but the reality after the pandemic is the same as the reality before it – the entire health service is under pressure as a result of years of under-resourcing.

However in the post-Covid era, there is now pent-up demand for care and treatment, placing even more pressure on the system.

Making his inaugural address to the IMO AGM in Dublin at the weekend, Dr Kilgallen pointed out that the country needs an additional 1,600 GPs in the next six years alone, while in the acute hospital sector, there are almost 850 unfilled consultant posts.

The HSE estimates that Ireland will need an extra 2,000 consultant by 2029.

Dr Kilgallen also noted that the number of pubic health and community health doctor numbers are “half of what is needed” and in terms of bed capacity, another 5,000 acute beds are needed.

Meanwhile, Dr Kilgallen also highlighted the plight of non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs). He said that while these doctors are “the future of our medical services…they feel that they are being treated with contempt and that they do not matter”.

“Many of our NCHDs are working between 70 and 80 hours a week, with many of them working shifts of more than 24 hours, but they are not even being paid fully for the hours they work,” he pointed out.

At the AGM, the IMO unanimously passed an emergency resolution in support of NCHDs and their #standingUP4NCHDs campaign, which seeks to address unsafe working hours and calls for major contract reform.

NCHDs are currently balloting on industrial action, up to and including strike action. This ballot will close on June 9.

According to Dr John Cannon, chairman of the IMO’s NCHD Committee, current conditions are “bad for doctors and unsafe for patients”.

“We are driving more and more NCHDs abroad and there is no reason for them to come back. Current contract issues are a monumental act of self-harm by the HSE and the Government,” he commented.

Dr Kilgallen also insisted that the current contract does not meet the needs of NCHDs “or the reality of the new demographics of the medical workforce”. He said that while nobody wants industrial action, “something has to give”, adding that the NCHD dispute “has the absolute support of doctors across the country”.

The IMO AGM took place at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.