Ireland needs to almost double the number of Orthopaedic Consultants to reach a national target set nearly 20 years ago and meet demand, says IHCA

The Hanly Report¹, published when Bertie Ahern was still Taoiseach and Micheál Martin was Minister for Health. It made it clear that Ireland needed at least 4 Orthopaedic Consultants per 100,000 population. This is to provide a minimum standard of care.

Today, in 2022, there are just 2.4 Orthopaedic Consultants per 100,000 population.² In contrast, in the UK and New Zealand, there are more than 6 Orthopaedic Consultants per 100,000 people.³