Louise O'Reilly
Ceist:
923. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Defence if he plans to help alleviate waiting lists for medical assessments for recruits for the Reserve Defence Forces; if consideration will be given to accepting private general practitioner medical assessments; if private general practitioners will be hired by the Defence Forces to carry out medical assessments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30300/22]
Amharc ar fhreagra
The information requested could not be readily ascertained in the timeframe set out for reply and I will revert once the information is available to me.
The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 51
I refer to the above mentioned Parliamentary Question. While it was not possible to provide the information requested within the given timeframe, I am now in a position to provide you with a response.
Under the Single Force Concept within the Defence Forces, the Reserve Defence Force has been integrated with the Permanent Defence Force. To ensure effective integration, members of both must be held to the same medical and fitness standards.
These medical standards, which ensure that members of the Defence Forces are capable of operating in robust military environments, require that a military medical officer conduct the induction medical assessment. Therefore, a private medical practitioner may not be used in this instance, due to the specific military nature of the induction assessment.
I have been informed by the Military Authorities that induction assessments, including medical assessments, are currently being conducted within capacity, in addition to other medical tasks, including the provision of medical cover for troops in overseas environments and other occupational medical assessments; such as assessments for overseas service and for contractual requirements.
The Defence Forces have confirmed that they are actively recruiting medical officers in order to increase capacity. They are also exploring the option to outsource occupational medical assessments to an occupational medicine group, rather than to private general practitioners, whereby the clinical governance requirements of the Director of Defence Forces Medical Branch would be agreed as standard. I await the outcome of these deliberations, which I expect will, contribute dealing with this issue.
I trust this is of assistance to you.
