General to Trainee Specialist Division

The Medical Council, in consultation with approved postgraduate training bodies and the HSE, maintains a record of postgraduate training posts within the State and their occupancy. In accordance with section 48 of the Medical Practitioners Act 2007, the Medical Council is obliged to register all medical practitioners who practise in training posts in the Trainee Specialist Division of the Register. Medical practitioners, who currently hold General or Specialist registration and are eligible for Trainee Specialist registration, will be transferred to the Trainee Specialist Division on receipt of confirmation of their training post. The Council resolution regarding individually numbered, identifiable training posts can be downloaded below;
Council Resolution.pdf

Eligibility

Only eligible doctors can be registered in the Trainee Specialist Division. They must meet each of the following criteria:

1. Practise in an individually numbered identifiable training post proposed by the HSE and recognised by the Medical Council; and
2. Have passed or been exempted from the PRES; and
3. Have been awarded a Certificate of Experience (Internship) or equivalent or higher.

Some doctors registered in the General Division on or after 1st January 2011 may not have met both criteria 2 and 3 above yet (although they will have met one of them) and will be required to do so in order to be registered in the Trainee Specialist Division.
Registration in the General Division is automatic when your current training post expires, unless you are registered in another recognised training post. Many doctors move regularly between the General & Trainee Specialist Division. This can happen when there is a delay in the Council receiving information about their new training post and they are registered in the General Division in the interim. The Council is obliged once it receives information about their new post to register them in the Trainee Specialist Division again.

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. Trainee Specialist registration 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 a Trainee Specialist, in the final year of their training, is acting up at Consultant grade in that specialty for a period of up to three months.