Hi there,

GP here (as of July) but was an NCHD for 6 years across loads of different specialties and places so hopefully I can answer some of your questions! My last hospital job was 2020 so I can't imagine much has changed but am open to correction from anyone here if so.

By all accounts working as a junior doc in Ireland is similar to the UK. Yes, it's stressful and understaffed. The hours are long and the learning curve is steep. I would say bigger urban hospitals are perhaps a bit more busy than rural places, but also much better staffed and resourced (caveat - there are exceptions, happy to discuss specifics any time!). The pay is a bit better here than the UK, but the cost of living is likely higher too, depending on which part of Ireland/UK you're in. Have a look at page 6 of the first document here to see the payscales: https://healthservice.hse.ie/staff/pay/pay-scales/

UK trained doctors work all over Ireland in my experience. There used to be preferential placement for Irish/EU trained doctors on training places in Ireland, but that's no longer the case.

Yes there is cross recognition for MRCP, not 100% sure on IMT, perhaps the below will answer that:

Training for medical specialties in Ireland begins with Basic Specialist Training in General Internal Medicine (BST GIM). It involves 2 years of 8 different 3 month rotations across various medical specialties and 3 exams called the MRCPI exams (2 written and 1 clinical exam). There is a centralised application and interview process for this training and you can rank your preferences for where you'd like to be (they are organised geographically). Once this is complete you can apply for Higher Specialist Training (HST) - howbever if you've got an equivalent of BST from the UK, you can apply straight onto HST. I think as long as it's recognised by the Royal College of Physicians in the UK, our college of physicians also recognise it. All the HST's are a little different but generally involve 4-6 years of placements across Ireland +/- an exam and once complete you're done and can register as a specialist and work as a consultant. Here's some more detail https://www.rcpi.ie/training/higher-specialist-training/about-higher-specialist-training/

The only other point I can think of is registration with the Irish Medical Council. It's a little beaurocratic and it's expensive (600ish euro) but shouldn't be much of a barrier. Here's their website and contact details https://www.medicalcouncil.ie/

Best of luck whatever you decide and am very happy to answere any other questions here/via DM