Abstract
Background
General practice makes a critical contribution to healthcare in Ireland. However, there is a weak understanding of the general practice workforce in Ireland.
Aims
The aim of this study is to estimate the number of general practitioners (GPs) and practice nurses in Ireland.
Methods
A variety of data sources was used to corroborate counts of general practitioners and practice nurses. Capture–recapture methods were used to estimate the hidden population of GPs not identified by the databases included.
Results
There are 2,954 general practitioners in Ireland, equivalent to 64.4 per 100,000 population. There are 1,700 practice nurses nationally, equivalent to 37.1 per 100,000 persons. There is substantial regional variation in the number of general practitioners and practice nurses per 100,000. To some extent, deficits in one discipline may be counterbalanced by a surplus in the other.
Conclusions
In the absence of a centralised register, it is not possible to track the number of GPs or practice nurses working in Ireland at present. This is despite the fact that there are twice as many general practice visits per annum compared to hospital visits.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Teljeur C, Thomas S, O’Kelly F, O’Dowd T (2010) General practitioner workforce planning: assessment of four policy directions. BMC Health Serv Res 10(148):1–10
Department of Health (2011) Health in Ireland: key trends 2011. Department of Health, Dublin
Department of the Taoiseach (2011) Programme for government 2011. Department of the Taoiseach, Dublin
Thomas S, Tyrrell E, Layte R et al (2012) Handbook on the development of a model to forecast the demand for and supply of GP and practice nurse services. Department of Health and Children, Dublin
O’Reilly D, O’Dowd T, Galway KJ et al (2007) Consultation charges in Ireland deter a large proportion of patients from seeing the GP: results of a cross-sectional survey. Eur J Gen Pract 13:231–236
O’Kelly FD, Teljeur C, Carter I et al (2010) Impact of a GP cooperative on lower acuity emergency department attendances. Emerg Med J 27:770–773
Shortall R (2012) Reform of primary care, 2012–2015. Presentation by Minister of State for primary care, Roisin Shortall T.D
Layte R, Barry M, Bennett K et al (2009) Projecting the impact of demographic change on the demand for and delivery of health care in Ireland. Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin
Behan J, Condon N, Milicevic I et al (2009) A quantitative tool for workforce planning in healthcare: example simulations. FÁS, Dublin
Primary Care Reimbursement Service (2011) Statistical analysis of claims and payments 2010. Health Service Executive, Dublin
Department of Health & Children (2010) Report of the expert group on resource allocation and financing in the health sector. Department of Health and Children, Dublin
O’Dowd T, O’Kelly M, O’Kelly F (2006) Structure of general practice in Ireland 1982–2005. Irish College of General Practitioners, Dublin
Competition Authority (2010) Competition in professional services. General Medical Practitioners. Competition Authority, Dublin
Department of Health (2012) Removal of restrictions on GPs wishing to treat public patients. http://www.dohc.ie/press/releases/2012/20120312.html. Accessed 22 January 2013
Health Service Executive (2008) Practice managers manual. Health Service Executive Dublin Mid-Leinster, Dublin
Primary Care Reimbursement Service (2011) Payments to doctors 2010. Health Service Executive, Dublin
Irish College of general practitioners (2011) Find a GP. http://www.icgp.ie/go/find_a_gp. Accessed 18 January 2011
Gueret M (ed) (2010) Irish medical directory 2010-2011. Irish Medical Directory, Dublin
CervicalCheck (2011) Find a smeartaker-doctor. http://www.cervicalcheck.ie/. Accessed 18 January 2011
Kelly A, Teljeur C, Carvalho M (2009) Prevalence of Opiate use in Ireland 2006: a 3-source capture recapture study. National Advisory Committee on Drugs, Dublin
Goldacre MJ, Davidson JM, Lambert TW (2009) Retention in the British National Health Service of medical graduates trained in Britain: cohort studies. BMJ 338:b1977
King G, Bendel R (1995) A statistical model estimating the number of African-American physicians in the United States. J Natl Med Assoc 87(4):264–272
World Health Organisation Regional Office for Europe (2012) European health for all database (HFA-DB). http://data.euro.who.int/hfadb/. Accessed 18 January 2012
Teljeur C, O’Dowd T, Thomas S, Kelly A (2010) The distribution of GPs in Ireland in relation to deprivation. Health Place 16(6):1077–1083
Teljeur C, O’Dowd T (2009) The feminisation of general practice—crisis or business as usual? Lancet 374(9696):1147
Conflict of interest
None to declare.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Teljeur, C., Tyrrell, E., Kelly, A. et al. Getting a handle on the general practice workforce in Ireland. Ir J Med Sci 183, 207–213 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-013-0991-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-013-0991-1