N. Ireland doctors leaving in droves for Republic
Apr 21, 2024 18:02:59 GMT
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Post by Carl LaFong on Apr 21, 2024 18:02:59 GMT
‘Northern Ireland is broken’: how a ‘toxic’ culture and better pay is enticing North’s doctors across the Border
Doctors in the North can earn two and a half times what they make with the NHS in the health service in the South.
archive.fo/2024.04.21-062959/https://www.irishtimes.com/health/2024/04/20/northern-ireland-is-broken-how-a-toxic-culture-and-better-pay-is-enticing-norths-doctors-across-the-border/
When Peter Maguire works a shift at a hospital in Dublin, he earns as much in one day as he would in a week in Northern Ireland’s NHS.
The anaesthetist quit his consultant’s job in the North five years ago. A “toxic” NHS culture, Stormont’s collapse and Brexit led to his decision. He began working part-time in the Republic.
“Best thing I ever did,” he says of the move.
Maguire, who has 30 years’ experience, is one of a growing number of senior doctors from the North who are working in locum and full-time posts in the South.
Oncologists, gynaecologists, radiologists and emergency department consultants are among those who have recently made the move, says a leading figure within the North’s main doctors’ union, the British Medical Association (BMA). Those taking up permanent positions can expect to more than double – and in some cases triple – their NHS salaries.
Some GPs, including those starting out in their careers, are also leaving. A workforce report published this week warned the profession was “struggling to the point of collapse” and demanded urgent action to prevent further departures.
“While the grass is not entirely greener in the Republic, if you speak to anyone there, it’s probably not as frantic. They’re not dealing with the fallout of the crumbling NHS,” says Belfast GP Michael McKenna.
“Lots of junior GPs are making the move but we’re also losing a lot of older consultants who are just fed up. The worrying thing is that half the GP trainees they’re putting through in the North don’t want to stay; they’re training here and going back down South.”
A GP starting out in the South would be earning “two-and-a-bit times” more than the same GP in the North, where the average salary is about £92,000 (€107,000), he says.
“We can’t get anywhere near those salaries,” says Alan Stout, co-chair of the BMA’s GP committee.
“It’s Enniskillen, it’s Armagh ... it’s those Border areas that doctors are leaving and [the money] makes it such an easy decision. It’s no coincidence that those are the areas where we’re struggling to recruit people”.
Ireland is now third to Australia and New Zealand as the most popular destinations for UK doctors planning to practise elsewhere, according to the General Medical Council (GMC), the UK regulator for doctors.
For Northern doctors, who earn less than their British counterparts, the lure of enhanced pay packages in better staffed hospital departments is “super attractive”, one senior medic said.
Consultants in Northern Ireland have a starting salary of £88,000 annually, which tops out at £118,00 for a 40-hour week. This compares with a baseline salary of €217,325 to €261,051 in the South for a 37-hour week under the Sláintecare contract introduced last year.
“Things are so much better and different in the South for consultants,” says Maguire, who was based at Newry’s Daisy Hill Hospital for 16 years.
“Only yesterday, I took the train down from Newry to Dublin and worked in St Luke’s in Rathgar. I did my shift and came home and never found the work so satisfying in my life. It’s what I trained to do, look after people.
“It’s far better paid and there’s far less bureaucracy.”
Doctors in the North can earn two and a half times what they make with the NHS in the health service in the South.
archive.fo/2024.04.21-062959/https://www.irishtimes.com/health/2024/04/20/northern-ireland-is-broken-how-a-toxic-culture-and-better-pay-is-enticing-norths-doctors-across-the-border/
When Peter Maguire works a shift at a hospital in Dublin, he earns as much in one day as he would in a week in Northern Ireland’s NHS.
The anaesthetist quit his consultant’s job in the North five years ago. A “toxic” NHS culture, Stormont’s collapse and Brexit led to his decision. He began working part-time in the Republic.
“Best thing I ever did,” he says of the move.
Maguire, who has 30 years’ experience, is one of a growing number of senior doctors from the North who are working in locum and full-time posts in the South.
Oncologists, gynaecologists, radiologists and emergency department consultants are among those who have recently made the move, says a leading figure within the North’s main doctors’ union, the British Medical Association (BMA). Those taking up permanent positions can expect to more than double – and in some cases triple – their NHS salaries.
Some GPs, including those starting out in their careers, are also leaving. A workforce report published this week warned the profession was “struggling to the point of collapse” and demanded urgent action to prevent further departures.
“While the grass is not entirely greener in the Republic, if you speak to anyone there, it’s probably not as frantic. They’re not dealing with the fallout of the crumbling NHS,” says Belfast GP Michael McKenna.
“Lots of junior GPs are making the move but we’re also losing a lot of older consultants who are just fed up. The worrying thing is that half the GP trainees they’re putting through in the North don’t want to stay; they’re training here and going back down South.”
A GP starting out in the South would be earning “two-and-a-bit times” more than the same GP in the North, where the average salary is about £92,000 (€107,000), he says.
“We can’t get anywhere near those salaries,” says Alan Stout, co-chair of the BMA’s GP committee.
“It’s Enniskillen, it’s Armagh ... it’s those Border areas that doctors are leaving and [the money] makes it such an easy decision. It’s no coincidence that those are the areas where we’re struggling to recruit people”.
Ireland is now third to Australia and New Zealand as the most popular destinations for UK doctors planning to practise elsewhere, according to the General Medical Council (GMC), the UK regulator for doctors.
For Northern doctors, who earn less than their British counterparts, the lure of enhanced pay packages in better staffed hospital departments is “super attractive”, one senior medic said.
Consultants in Northern Ireland have a starting salary of £88,000 annually, which tops out at £118,00 for a 40-hour week. This compares with a baseline salary of €217,325 to €261,051 in the South for a 37-hour week under the Sláintecare contract introduced last year.
“Things are so much better and different in the South for consultants,” says Maguire, who was based at Newry’s Daisy Hill Hospital for 16 years.
“Only yesterday, I took the train down from Newry to Dublin and worked in St Luke’s in Rathgar. I did my shift and came home and never found the work so satisfying in my life. It’s what I trained to do, look after people.
“It’s far better paid and there’s far less bureaucracy.”