‘I decided to take a leap of faith’: Largest ever number of GPs graduate
When Dr Hannah McCauley was a child, she was used to her father Denis working all hours as a general practitioner (GP) in rural Donegal . “People would come to the house and every third night he would be on call. I grew up knowing the hard work that was involved in medicine but I saw how much enjoyment Dad got out of it,” she says. Despite getting the Leaving Cert points to study medicine in Trinity College Dublin, she decided to “take a leap of faith” and study abroad in Dundee, Scotland . After graduating in 2016, she worked in Edinburgh for two years, before working in Northern Ireland for another two. But after working in hospitals and seeing “patients come and go”, she realised she wanted a different speciality. “In general practice, it’s very much patient focused. You know his whole history. He is a person and the illness happened to him,” she says. “There is that classic GP cradle to grave situation, where we see them for their newborn check and you can see them through adolescence into adulthood into old age.” McCauley is one of 274 new GPs graduating from the Irish College of GPs at Dublin’s Convention Centre on Saturday. She started her GP training in 2020 during the early days of the Covid pandemic, but had two children during the process. GP numbers rise by just 185 in five years despite healthcare needs of growing population “I had my first baby in 2022. At that point, I was out in rural general practice and came back from maternity leave pregnant,” she says. “I had two [babies] in 18 months. I was learning the art of being a GP while learning to be a mother and everything else that comes with that.” The 35-year-old is so excited to be able to work as GP in her beloved Donegal, following in the footsteps of her father. She was even more surprised to discover she, and another graduate, are both being given the Ellard Eppel award – a recognition of the GP trainee with the highest exam score in the country. “The GP training programme is normally four years, but I took six because I took a year off for each of my babies. I had thought the babies had fried my brain. I did the last exam last year. My son didn’t sleep for two years, so I don’t really remember it,” she says, laughing. She added that the Donegal GP training programme was such a “supportive learning environment”. GP shortages: Where are the most acute problems across the country? The Government has increased the number of GP training places in recent years in a bid to meet the growing supply and demand gap, particularly in rural areas. Speaking about the newly qualified GPs, Fintan Foy, chief executive of the Irish College of GPs, said it was the “largest graduation in the college’s history”. “Behind that are 274 new specialist GPs who will care for patients and families in communities right across Ireland,” he says. “These GPs will help to address the GP workforce crisis and to ensure that we have sufficient specialist GPs to care for our population. I congratulate every one of them, and the families and friends who supported them along the way.” Of the new graduates conferred at the weekend, 32 had completed the international medical graduate rural programme, which is a two-year supported work and learning initiative run by the Irish College of GPs, alongside the HSE to help experienced non-EU general practitioners integrate into rural Irish healthcare. Dr Velma Harkins, president of the college, paid particular tribute to these individuals, adding that they have “kept its doctors’ surgeries open”. Dr Arsalan Naqvi is originally from Pakistan but moved to Ireland in 2021 because he wanted to focus on more community-focused care. “For me, Ireland is a country that is very welcoming and has beautiful scenery. It has a healthcare system where primary care plays an important role,” he says. The 31-year -old worked as a senior house officer (SHO) in Portiuncula hospital in Galway for the year after he moved. At least 1,000 new GPs required to maintain patient ratios, says representative group “During that year, I really enjoyed the relationship between the hospital and the primary care and how general practice co-ordinates care in the community,” he says. “I applied to the GP scheme and got the Sligo GP scheme. The day I moved from the hospital to community and I felt like this is where I wanted to be. Why does he love general practice so much? There are lots of reasons, he said. “You’re seeing a variety, you’re doing chronic medical conditions, minor surgery. I find in terms of illness you’re dealing more with the social and psychosocial effect,” he adds. “The relationship a GP has with a patient is different. You see them at different stages of their life.” Now he has graduated, he will continue to work across two practices – one rural and one urban – though he thinks rural medicine might the home for him in the future. “I would be more inclined to work in a rural practice that’s why I want to do both to see whether I enjoy them both. I haven’t decided yet,” he said. “I wanted to see where I stand. I’m looking forward to learning more skills in general practice.”