What is the life of a doctor in Ireland like?
If you come to Ireland from another European country, such as Spain, Latin America or Asia, the working conditions of Irish doctors will probably surprise you. To begin with, there are three characteristics that stand out above the rest:
Here are some facts that will help you to understand the Irish healthcare system:
How many GPs are there in Ireland?
Approximately 2,500.
Where do they work every day?
In group and solo practices and in primary care centres throughout the country. But they are not fully state-funded public centres as they are on the continent. The state subcontracts private doctors to attend to the population, and the doctors organize themselves autonomously.
Do they serve the entire population?
In Ireland, GPs see the patient from birth until the end of life. In other words, they are truly general practitioners. There are no paediatrician or geriatrician in primary care services. The GP is the first person to see and get to know patients. In case of seriousness or need for analyses and medical tests, they are referred to hospitals.
Do patients go directly to the hospital?
Irish patients know that they must first go to their GP. If they go straight to hospital for something that is not an emergency, without first seeing their doctor, they will be penalized financially. This prevents what happens in other countries, such as Spain, where patients, faced with the saturation of primary care or simply for personal convenience, tend to go to hospital for matters that are not really urgent.
Are medicines very expensive?
They are. More than in other European countries. And they are not subsidized as generously as in Spain, for example. In Ireland, access to free public health care is not universal. It is a pending issue in Ireland because not all medicines are subsidized, only for certain chronic diseases.
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Do patients pay for consultations?
Primary care consultations cost a minimal amount to the patient - around 60 euros! Most people do not have public coverage and take out private insurance that covers all or part of the consultations. Here, you even have to pay for the medical leave certificate, even if you have public insurance. An electrocardiogram, a blood test or an X-ray you have to pay for it out of pocket.
How does a foreign doctor work in Ireland?
If you join the Irish healthcare system, as I did three years ago, you should know that you do not enter as a civil servant for life. Primary care, as I explained earlier, is privately run by doctors, who in turn can hire other doctors. You either work in your own private practice or you rent a space, for example, in the medical centres built by local councils or local authorities. And you are independent (although you are accountable for your performance) because there is no medical management by the administration.
How much does a doctor make in Ireland?
I'm going to tell you what a salaried doctor earns as a minimum: from 500 to 700 euros per day, depending on your experience or your status as a general practitioner / specialist. And from 100,000 to 150,000 euros per year, depending on the time you dedicate. If you like emergency medicine, it pays from 80 to 120 euros per hour on call.
How is the flexibility of the GP at work?
Normally, consultations are open from 9am to 1pm and from 2pm to 6pm. If you as a doctor covered the whole shift, you would see 30 or 40 patients a day, and you would be paid up to 700 euros a day for that shift, but in reality, you share these hours with other doctors. You can organize yourself to, for example, attend only in the morning or do it three days a week. This allows you to return to your home country often, to study, to practice telemedicine, to travel or to reconcile your personal and professional life.
What is the role of the GP in Ireland?
I would define it in four words: commitment, creativity, responsibility and high remuneration. In Ireland, the role of the doctor is of great value to society. The system allows you to be independent and to organize your work and your career. You can evolve, flow, develop.
If as a doctor you are bored to think that you are going to be doing the same thing for the next 20 or 30 years, Ireland is your destination!
Médico General
7moThanks for sharing
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7mome podria dar mas informacion
Post Graduate Trainee of Medicine
7moVery informative👍