NCHD emigration crisis and the need for consultant-delivered care.

Well-trained and motivated medical staff are essential to a functioning health system. However, Ireland is struggling in this regard. As has been highlighted in numerous studies and reports over the years, Irish non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs) are demoralised and dissatisfied with working conditions in Ireland and are leaving in increasing numbers. The other side of the coin is Ireland’s growing reliance on overseas-trained doctors, despite the successful scaling-up of numbers of EU (and therefore Irish) entrants to medical schools.