The regulator for the medical profession in Ireland has raised concerns about patient safety and doctor wellbeing after new data found almost a quarter of doctors report working more than European limits.
The Medical Council today publishes its 2024 annual workforce intelligence report, which found there were 20,962 clinically active doctors working in the State last year.
According to the report, almost a quarter of doctors (23.1 per cent) self-reported working more than 48 hours on average per week, in contravention of the European Working Time Directive (EWTD).
The EWTD seeks to safeguard the health and safety of workers by setting minimum standards for working hours and rest periods across the European Union.
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The disciplines most likely to indicate working more than 48 hours a week were surgery (50.9 per cent) and obstetrics and gynaecology (34.9 per cent).
Among doctors who reported working more than 48 hours per week, 45.6 per cent also reported working in direct patient care for more than 48 hours per week.
The report said this “raises concerns in relation to doctor wellbeing and patient safety, as excessive work hours are demonstrably associated with attrition, stress, burnout and are predictive of adverse event involvement”.
For the first time, doctors were also asked about their views of patient care and safety.
Just over one quarter (26.1 per cent) reported experiencing difficulty providing a patient with sufficient care at least once a week or more frequently, while slightly more than one-third (33.6 per cent) reported never experiencing difficulty.
“Pressure on workloads” was the most commonly cited barrier to providing sufficient patient care, with 73 per cent of doctors reporting this.
It was followed by “time spent on bureaucracy/administration”, at 55.1 per cent, and “delays to providing care, treatment and screening”, at 46.1 per cent.
According to an analysis of the medical register, the mean age of doctors was 43.7, with one in five aged 55 or older.
The highest number of clinically active doctors was concentrated in disciplines of general practice (25.9 per cent) and medicine (23.4 per cent), followed by surgery (11.9 per cent).
The report also highlighted a continued reliance on international doctors, who now account for 27.8 per cent of the workforce.
The most common country of qualification for international graduates was Pakistan, accounting for 39.7 per cent of the international graduate cohort, followed by Sudan at 21.3 per cent.
Last year, 1,632 doctors left the Medical Council’s medical register. The majority of these were voluntary withdrawals.
Of the doctors who voluntarily withdrew from the register, 58.8 per cent (603) said they wanted to practise medicine in another country, while a further 14.5 per cent (149) said they wished to stop practising medicine.
