Trainee Specialist Division (TSD) Registration
The Medical Council, in consultation with approved postgraduate training bodies and the HSE, maintains a record of postgraduate training posts within the State.
If you are undertaking postgraduate medical training in a recognised training post you must be registered with the TSD. This division also includes interns.
A doctor undertaking postgraduate medical training in a recognised training post should be registered in the TSD. This division also includes interns. By virtue of being in the TSD, doctors do not have to engage in additional professional competence activities.
Doctors intending to practise in a postgraduate training post must first undergo an application process as set out below and must have been issued with an Acceptance/Eligibility Letter which states that they are eligible for trainee specialist registration. They must inform the Medical Council of the details of that post and pay the appropriate registration fee in order to be registered.
The HSE is responsible for confirming individual posts occupied by Trainee Doctors. Doctors enrolled on training programmes with post-graduate training bodies and who have made an application to be registered in the Trainee Specialist Division (TSD) should note that on occasion, the Medical Council may not have received confirmation details of the post. Until such confirmation is received from the HSE the Council is unable to register the applicant in the Trainee Specialist Division and until that confirmation is received the applicant will be registered in the General Division.
The Medical Council does not hold information on posts to which doctors have been assigned. The doctor should contact the clinical site where the post is located to see when confirmation will be sent to the Medical Council.
A doctor enrolled in a training programme should ensure that a contract of employment has been returned to the HSE and that the annual retention fee is paid to the Medical Council.
Limitations of Trainee Specialist Registration
Trainee specialist registration in individually numbered, identifiable training posts
- only permits the practice of medicine within the clinical site/health service setting stated on the Certificate of Registration or clinics/health service settings formally connected with that training post.
- only permits the prescribing of drugs only for those patients of the clinical site/health service setting in which the medical practitioner is employed.
These limitations do not apply where, in the final year of their training, a trainee specialist is acting at Consultant grade in that specialty or a GP Registrar is acting as a General Practitioner, for a period of up to three months.
Medical practitioners can only hold trainee specialist registration while occupying individually numbered, identifiable training posts within the State.
If eligible, a doctor can apply to have their name transferred to another appropriate division of the Register while they undertake training/research in another country.
Application Procedure
First time applicants for registration, who are seeking registration in the Trainee Specialist Division, should complete the generic application form. Medical practitioners seeking to transfer to the Trainee Specialist Division from the General Division or who are registered in the Specialist Division and are seeking to train in a second specialty, do not need to fill out an application form. Registration in the Trainee Specialist Division will happen automatically once confirmation of the post and the incumbent has been received from the HSE.
Additional Information