The Forum of Irish Postgraduate Medical Training Bodies, a major step forward in uniting postgraduate medical training bodies in Ireland will today formally sign governance documents, to give official status to the body.  The Presidents, Chairpersons and Deans of the fourteen training bodies will lend their signatures to the agreement, which for the first time formally establishes a body to co-ordinate developments in postgraduate medical training for the entire spectrum of medical professional activities.

The Forum has operated with great success on an interim basis for the past 12 months has established itself as an effective body in dealing with other stakeholders in postgraduate medical education.

Founded with a remit to advance causes common to all training bodies, member bodies of the forum saw a need to co-ordinate responses to regulatory and funding bodies. The group will also develop a strong relationship with the Medical Education, Training and Research unit of the Health Service Executive (HSE), the Medical Council and the Department of Health and Children in order to influence the changing nature of medical education and training in Ireland.

Under the leadership of the Chair Prof. T Joseph McKenna the Forum has made some significant achievements not least of which the securing over €1.8 million funding from the Health Service Executive for capital and revenue projects.

“On this and a number of different initiatives the Forum has enabled all fourteen medical training bodies to work together to progress common strategies, facilitate cooperation and exchange of information across all the bodies.” said Prof. McKenna.

Commenting on their achievement this year Prof McKenna said “In partnership with the HSE the Forum have also undertaken a national audit of SHO and Registrar posts. The audit of posts across all specialties has been much easier to implement as a result of the Forum being in place.”

“This is a practical example of how we can achieve better results by working together.” he said.

Among their plans for the next 12 months is the development of a new online resource for medical training in Ireland. The development of this new website www.irishmedicaltraining.ie is an important development in postgraduate medical education and one that will greatly assist doctors who are planning their medical careers in Ireland.

The website will act as a single information point for students interested in pursuing postgraduate training in any one of thirty seven different specialties. It will provide crucial information on all postgraduate training programmes across Ireland, comprehensive details of relevant training programmes and links to training bodies. It is hoped that the new website will be ready for March 2008.