Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 December 2025
1081. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Health the way in which she plans to ensure that there is a sustainable pipeline of surgeons from the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland to Model 3 hospitals across the State; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [72281/25]
View answerThe report ‘Surgery Medical Workforce in Ireland 2024-2038: An expert stakeholder informed review’ (HSE, 2024) outlines stakeholder informed recommendations on the future demand for consultants across 10 specialties of surgery. These recommendations are considered at a regional level and therefore take account of the regional requirements to include Model 3 and Model 4 hospitals and specialist hospitals.
Recommendations regarding the required annual higher specialist training intake numbers to meet consultant demand are also outlined in this report. Training programmes are delivered through the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI). Stakeholders involved in the development of the recommendations include clinical and training leads from the National Clinical Programme in Surgery, the National Clinical Programme for Trauma and Orthopaedics, and the RCSI.
In consultation with the HSE, the RCSI is implementing a planned expansion of core training (Basic Surgical Training - BST) and higher surgical training (HST) numbers to ensure a sustainable national pipeline of surgeons. The annual intake to BST has increased from 60 in 2020 to 100 in 2025, representing a 65% increase over this period. The intake to HST across the ten surgical specialties has also grown by almost 32%, from 44 in 2020 to 58 in 2025.
Model 3 hospitals are a core and planned component of the surgical training pathway with structured rotations across Model 3 and Model 4 hospitals ensuring sustained exposure and experience. In parallel, the planned expansion of core and higher surgical training numbers from 2025 onwards is designed, in consultation with HSE NDTP, to deliver a sustainable national pipeline of surgeons to meet future workforce needs, including for Model 3 hospitals.
