More than 4,000 overseas doctors and nurses are seeking to work in Ireland but are unable to do so because of delays in processing their applications.
The growing backlog is highlighted in new figures from the Medical Council, which show that 1,850 doctors who qualified outside the EU are stuck at various stage of the application process.
Another 177 applications from doctors who qualified in the rest of the EU are currently being assessed, but just 19 applications from Irish-qualified doctors are awaiting assessment.
Meanwhile, the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland is currently handling 1,977 overseas applications, which includes both EU and non-EU cases.
It says three-quarters of these applications from overseas nurses cannot progress because the documentation submitted is incomplete.
The growing backlog of applications is contributing to staffing shortages in many hospitals and is causing growing concern among consultants who say they cannot fill posts even when qualified staff have been located.
“The registration process has always taken a few months and seems to be taking longer for non-European medical graduates,” one consultant in a Dublin hospital told The Irish Times.
“However, it now seems to be taking even longer than before.”
Six months
“I have been told by the human resources department in my hospital there is currently a delay of over six months to process any application.”
The Medical Council confirmed it can take 24 weeks for non-EU applications to be assessed, but said it was of the utmost importance that each application was subject to robust vetting before doctors earned the right to practise in Ireland.
"While we are focused on making our application procedures as efficient as possible, this does not, in any way, reduce the need for a rigorous vetting process, both by us and then by employers so that patients can be confident that their doctor is appropriately qualified," says chief executive Bill Prasifka.
“Accordingly, we are admitting more newly-qualified doctors to the register while maintaining the same standards.”
Recent fitness to practise cases at the council have highlighted the shortcomings of some overseas doctors recruited to work in the health service in Ireland.
Mr Prasifka says the council is looking to recruit staff to meet the extra demand, and is hopeful the Department of Health and the Department of Public Expenditure will provide the approval needed.
Registration
The council says there are 210 doctors qualified outside Europe who have met the registration requirement but have to confirm they wish to proceed.
Doctors often apply to several countries for registration and base a decision on where to register on job offers.
About 500 overseas doctors are in the process of sitting pre-registration exams.
Doctors can sit the computer-based section of this exam in centres worldwide but have to complete the clinical section in Ireland.
Only 45 per cent of doctors passed either section of the exam in 2014.
In addition, 540 doctors are in the process of having their initial application assessed, and 330 have submitted incomplete applications and further documentation is awaited.
The council says it had seen a significant increase in the number of non-EU applicants in the past year, up from 1,800 to over 2,600 registrations.
The nursing board says overseas applications increased 144 per cent in 2015.
Of 1,977 overseas applications in the system, 1,447 are unable to progress because of incomplete documentation being submitted.
There are no delays in processing applications from Irish nurses, the board says.
‘I am really tired of fighting for my right to work as a nurse’
Natasa Eberling, an experienced nurse from Croatia, has been trying to get registered to work in Ireland for more than a year, but so far without success.
She first applied to the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI) in October 2014, and was asked on several occasions to provide updated documentation. In April 2015 her application was refused.
“The problem arose because the Croatian Chamber of Nurses refused to issue valid certificates, and on many occasions sent the NMBI false certificates and false explanations.
“The only reason is a political fear of losing too many skilled nurses,” she says.
Croatia has suffered a brain drain of healthcare staff since it joined the EU in 2013, with many staff exercising their new-found rights to work elsewhere in Europe over issues of low pay and difficult working conditions. Doctors and nurses earn about a quarter of what they can earn in Ireland and other western European countries.
Ms Eberling appealed the board’s decision in her case in May 2015, and submitted new documents attesting to her status as a general nurse in her home country and the training involved.
She says she has worked “independently and without supervision” in anaesthesia, resuscitation and intensive care for 20 years.
While friends who travelled to Ireland to expedite their applications have succeeded in being registered, Ms Eberling can not afford to leave home without work and is still waiting.
“I am really tired of fighting for my right to work as a nurse in your country as the NMBI is holding on to my case for so many months.”
