Patient safety concerns highlighted in new Medical Council research

Tuesday, 29th July 2025: The Medical Council has today launched new research on the medical workforce in 2024 via the publication of three reports.  

Launched today at the Medical Council’s offices at Kingram House, Dublin 2; the reports, which analyse and present data from doctors in Ireland in 2024, look at:  

1. Doctors who retained their place on the Medical Council’s Register, by renewing their registration (Medical Workforce Intelligence Report 2024) 
2. Doctors who joined* the Medical Council Register in 2024 
3. Doctors who left* the Medical Council Register in 2024 (including those who left voluntarily, and those who were removed for not renewing their registration) 

The Medical Workforce Intelligence Report analyses the clinically active medical workforce in Ireland including the quantitative analyses of demographics and divisional status and details on employment, practice, medical disciplines and specialities.  

In this latest data, doctors were asked questions related to hours spent working in direct patient care, maintaining patient safety and future career plans. 

The research reveals that:  

• Almost a quarter of doctors (23.1%) self-reported working more than 48 hours on average per week, in contravention of the European Working Time Directive (EWTD).  

• The disciplines most likely to indicate working more than 48 hours a week were Surgery (50.9%) and Obstetrics and Gynaecology (34.9%). 

• Among doctors who reported working in excess of 48 hours per week, 45.6% also reported that they were working in direct patient care in excess of 48 hours per week. 

• Just over one quarter (26.1%) reported experiencing difficulty providing a patient with sufficient care at least once a week or more frequently, while slightly over one-third (33.6%) reported never experiencing difficulty.  

• 73.0% of doctors cited “pressure on workloads”, as the greatest barrier to providing a patient with sufficient care at least once a week or more frequently.  

• Other barriers observed or experienced by most doctors included ‘time spent on bureaucracy/administration’ (55.1%), followed by ‘delays to providing care, treatment and screening’ (46.1%). 

As well as exploring the overall Clinically Active Workforce in Ireland, the Medical Workforce Intelligence Report explores Non-Consultant Hospital Doctors (NCHDs) and General Practitioners in detail. Other notable stats from the Medical Workforce Intelligence Report include:  

• In 2024, there were 20,962 clinically active doctors working in the Republic of Ireland. This represents 78.8% of the doctors who retained their place on the Medical Council Register. 

• The mean age of doctors was 43.7 and approximately 1 in 5 (20.6%) were 55 and older, therefore approaching the typical retirement age.  

• Slightly over half of clinically active doctors (50.3%) were registered on the Specialist Division, while 30.8% were on the General Division.  

• The highest number of clinically active doctors was concentrated in disciplines of General Practice (25.9%) and Medicine (23.4%), followed by Surgery (11.9%). 

• The proportion of clinically active doctors with an international basic medical qualification (from outside Ireland, the EU and the UK) was 27.8% and continues to rise (25.7% in 2023 and 23.3% in 2022). The most common country of qualification for international graduates was Pakistan, with 39.7% of the international graduate cohort. This was followed by Sudan, with 21.3% of the international graduate cohort. 

• 12.9% and 4.5% of doctors respectively were likely, or extremely likely to consider reducing hours in clinical practice, making this the most likely career change among doctors. 

Welcoming the research today, Jantze Cotter, Executive Director, Regulatory Policy, Standards and Research, Medical Council said,

“These reports are just one important aspect in our wider workforce planning to meet patient needs into the future.  

“Although Ireland is internationally respected for its high standards in medical training, retaining doctors trained in Ireland remains a challenge. Our data also identifies factors that may compromise optimal patient outcomes, with many doctors working hours that exceed the limits set by the EWTD, contributing to stress, burnout, and absenteeism. 

“Over the years, we’ve seen an increase in women in medicine, reflecting a positive shift towards greater gender diversity and inclusivity in healthcare. Flexible training and practice options are essential as Ireland’s increasing population demands an increase in GP numbers, as well as overall doctor numbers. 

“A key aspect to retaining our highly skilled workforce is through organisations working together, using data, knowledge, and resources to focus efforts and produce tangible actions,” Ms Cotter concluded.  

Dr Maria O’Kane, CEO of the Medical Council, added,

“The Medical Council is proactively working with stakeholders including medical schools, government colleagues and patient safety organisations to support the growing medical workforce. We remain committed to this work while safely expediting the increasing number of doctors’ registrations.  

“We’ve seen a phenomenal increase in recent years in the number of doctors joining the Register. Despite there being over 30,000 doctors on the register at the end of 2024, our research today shows that only 20,692 doctors report being clinically active in Ireland in the same year.  

“The recent report on General Practice in Ireland, published last month by Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, T.D., and the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service (IGEES), aligns strongly with the data in our own reports. The Medical Council shares the same views on the urgent need for strategic, sustainable investment in training, recruitment, and retention – for GPs and other doctors alike.”  

Dr Bernadette Rock, Head of Research and Regulatory Data Insights with the Medical Council, added:

"Understanding doctors’ perspectives on barriers to patient safety helps us to understand why certain groups of doctors are more likely to face obstacles to good practice and effective teamwork in clinical settings. 

“Our Medical Workforce Intelligence Reports are made possible by the doctors who answer the workforce questions on the 2024 Annual Retention Form. These insights from doctors are critical in shaping a sustainable, well-supported medical workforce and promoting patient safety into the future. We thank the doctors for their contributions.” 

Definitions of terms: 

• Clinically Active in Ireland: All doctors who retain their place on the Register are asked if they are currently practising medicine. If a doctor selects ‘yes’ to this question they are defined as being clinically active. All doctors reporting to be clinically active, are asked where they are practising medicine. If they reported practising in the Republic of Ireland only, or both within and outside the Republic of Ireland they are defined as being clinically active in Ireland. 

The data on doctors joining and leaving the Register is based on the 2024 calendar year from January 1st 2024 to December 31st 2024.  

*Key Findings: Joiners 

• In 2024, 5,304 doctors joined and remained on the Medical Council’s Medical Register. The majority of these doctors joined for the first time (n = 4,721, 89.0%), and the remainder restored their place (n = 583, 11.0%).  

• This total reflects doctors who are permitted to practise in Ireland, not those who are clinically active. A proportion of these commence work in the Irish health system, however, a proportion may not. 

• Just under two-thirds of doctors joining for the first time (n = 3,097, 65.6%) and half of doctors restoring their place (n = 273, 46.8%) were registered on the General Division at year end.  

• Over half of doctors restoring their place on the Register were qualified in Ireland (n = 308, 52.8%).  

*Key Findings: Leavers 

• In 2024, 1,632 doctors left the Medical Council’s Medical Register. The majority of these doctors voluntarily withdrew (n = 1,025, 62.8%), and the remainder were removed for not renewing their registration (n = 607, 37.2%). 

• Doctors who voluntarily withdrew provided additional details on the reason and the majority of doctors, 58.8% (n = 603) indicated that they wished to practise medicine in another country. A further 14.5% (n = 149) wished to stop practising medicine and just over one quarter (n = 273, 26.6%) reported having some other reason for voluntarily withdrawing. 

• This primary reason varied depending on the division of their registration, with the majority of doctors on the general division wishing to practise medicine abroad (60.6%) and the majority of doctors on the specialist division wishing to stop practising medicine (45.5%). 

• Doctors providing details on leaving the register were often moving abroad for professional development, better working conditions, and family reasons. Furthermore, many other doctors stopped their medical practice, either permanently or temporarily due to retirement, leaving clinical roles, or personal, financial and health reasons.  

Doctors register in one of six divisions of the Register, depending on the training they have completed, or are currently undertaking. Division is therefore not static, and doctors can transfer depending on their current circumstances. The six divisions of the Register are:  

• Specialist Registration: Doctors may practise independently, without supervision and may represent themselves as specialists.  

• Trainee Specialist Registration: Doctors are on recognised training programmes and practise solely within the confines of posts allocated by the HSE in conjunction with the postgraduate training bodies (PGTBs).  

• General Registration: Doctors may practise independently, without supervision but may not represent themselves as specialists.  

• Supervised Registration: Doctors who have been offered a post that has been approved by the HSE, which has specific supervisory arrangements.  

• Internship Registration: Allows a doctor to carry out internship training in a hospital recognised by the Medical Council. These posts are allocated by the HSE.  

• Visiting EEA Practitioners Registration: Doctors are European Union citizens who are fully established to practise medicine in another European Union member state. These doctors may practise medicine in Ireland on a temporary basis without having to take out General or Specialist Registration.