The answer is yes, but because the term “Training Scheme” can refer to several different career paths in Ireland. The important thing to note is there are options out there for everyone.
The HSE National Doctors Training and Planning (NDTP), plus some independent postgraduate colleges, coordinate and organise these programs. They can be found at multiple teaching and clinical sites across Ireland.
Each hospital offers specific training schemes and it really depends on what you are looking for:
There are 3 categories of training scheme;
- Medical and Specialist Doctor Training Schemes
- Paramedic Training
- Nursing & Midwifery Training
The one we get asked about the most is the Medical and Specialist Doctor Training Schemes.
So any Postgraduate medical training (Basic or Higher Specialist Training) is governed by professional bodies, and trainees rotate through various HSE-affiliated teaching hospitals.
General Practice (GP), Hospital Specialities and Regulatory Bodies are the main areas of training when it comes to medical and specialist doctor training schemes.
General Practice (GP)
General Practice (GP) run in conjunction with local universities and training schemes. One would be the Trinity College Dublin (TCD)/HSE GP Training Scheme, which operates out of hospitals like St. James’s Hospital https://www.stjames.ie/ and Tallaght University Hospital https://www.tuh.ie/ .
Hospital Specialties
Hospital Specialties has training in medicine, surgery, obstetrics and so on, and rotates through major academic hospitals, such as St. Vincent’s University Hospital https://www.stvincents.ie/ , Cork University Hospital https://www.linkedin.com/company/cork-university-hospital/?originalSubdomain=ie , University Hospital Galway https://www.saolta.ie/hospital/university-hospital-galway , and Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) https://www.childrenshealthireland.ie/ .
Regulatory Bodies
The Regulatory Bodies programs are overseen by bodies like the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI) https://www.rcpi.ie/ and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) https://www.rcsi.com/ .
Training typically takes anything from 4 to 8 years, depending on the specific field/route you take. For example, Hospital Specialty Training is divided into two primary stages: Basic/Core Specialty Training (1 to 3 years) followed by Higher Specialist Training, known as HST (4 to 6 years), General Practice (GP) training is 4 years in total (2 years in hospital settings, 2 years in supervised GP clinics) and Surgery training is 8 years in total (a 2-year Core Surgical Training program followed by a 6-year Senior House Officer/Registrar scheme).
So there is a lot to consider and look at when it comes to training schemes. To find out more and where the right training scheme is for you, please visit our helpful links below:
