My colleague, Emma Fenton and I had the opportunity to attend the EPA Conference in Paris on March 25-28th.
The EPA is the main association representing psychiatry in Europe with a membership that spans 88 countries and 44 national psychiatric association members who represent more than 78,000 European psychiatrics. The EPA deals with the psychiatry and its related disciplines and focuses on the improvement of care for the mentally ill as well as on the development of professional excellence.
This was a wonderful opportunity to meet with European Psychiatric Doctors and Consultants, to talk with them about career opportunities in Ireland and to promote the new Sláintecare Contact, with a view to recruiting much needed psychiatrists to work in Ireland. As the government has substantially increased the number of psychiatric posts in public hospitals, there are a significant number of open roles available with the HSE right now. There is a strong demand for experienced psychiatrists in the following sub specialties: General Adult Psychiatry, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Old Age Psychiatry, Liaison Psychiatry, Learning Disability Psychiatry and Rehabilitation Psychiatry.
Our goal at this conference was to promote Ireland as an attractive proposition to medical professionals considering a career move. The conference itself was a vibrant and informative environment, engaging all levels of psychiatric doctors – we met with students, residents and senior consultants. The lectures and talks were well attended, the exhibition hall showcased industry leaders and their innovation in the field of mental health and the E-Poster presentations were well received. We had the pleasure of meeting some of our clients from Ireland who were delighted to see us there, doing all we can to recruit more doctors for Ireland.
As a recruiter at these events, it is very interesting to review the questions arising from Doctors who are considering Ireland as a viable location to progress their careers – one of the most frequent questions was that of continued professional development opportunities, which was answered by the generous Sláintecare allowance for research and development.
Of particular interest was the standard of living attainable in Ireland – many of the eastern European doctors were surprised by the packages on offer. The work/life balance was also top of the agenda for people who were considering a move to Ireland.
Currently in Ireland, there is an attractive package available to Consultants Psychiatrists.
Overall, the conference gave us the opportunity to showcase the variety of posts currently available to residents and consultants in Ireland, and building on this momentum we intend to focus on the attraction of these hard-to-find doctors to work in our hospitals. We have partnered with the HSE and are working closely with the Mental Health Services to source suitable doctors and consultants. In the FRS Doctors recruitment team, we have over 20 years’ experience in matching candidates to the ideal roles. We have a strong compliance support for all our doctors relocating to Ireland, and our experience will ensure that we secure the best possible package to attract top talent to Irish hospitals.
CLICK HERE to view our latest roles or if you'd like to talk to a member of our Doctor's recruitment team email info@frsrecruitment.com.