Minister for Health James Reilly has attacked the HPat exam, sat by those seeking entry to medical school, and also suggests that doctors' training should be shortened.
The HPat (Health Professions Admission Test), introduced in 2009, has led to the development of “a new industry that involves educating people in how to pass the test”, he says.
Expressing his “distaste” for the multiple-choice exam, which aims to test aptitude, Dr Reilly told the Dáil that some people who failed the test subsequently passed it “after going away and doing a course”.
“It is not really doing what it is supposed to do in terms of testing aptitude in a genuine fashion,” the Minister said.
A recent study found that boys outperform girls in the test but there is no evidence of a gender bias. The test, under review, has already been tweaked to militate against repeat students getting an advantage.
Dr Reilly said no system for medical school entry was perfect but the Leaving Certificate was “about the most transparent and fair system we have”.
“I want to send a message to the young men and women who study hard to achieve high points in the Leaving Certificate, and who study so hard for a further five years at college to become doctors, that there is a future here. We need them and we value them. We should respect them.”
He said he wanted to shorten the time it takes to become a doctor. "I do not see why one can become a fully trained specialist in Australia in six years and yet it takes, on average, 12 years here."
The lack of advice available to medical students in their final year was also an issue. “They do not get any mentoring. They finish, qualify and then suddenly they are an intern and it is a case of ‘what am I going to do next? Do I go into surgery? Do I go into anaesthetics?’”
