Doctor Retention or Migration: From Ireland to the World?; Comment on “Doctor Retention: A Cross-sectional Study of How Ireland Has Been Losing the Battle”

The recent study of prospective doctor migration and retention suggests that more than half of junior doctors intend to migrate from Ireland. While intent is not necessarily outcome, such intentions match similar survey results in Ireland and elsewhere. The rationale for migration is described as a function of difficult workplace circumstances (notably long hours and mismanagement). Lifestyle factors may however also be important for both migration and significant levels of return migration. These are related to family formation, and to an established culture of migration, that has contributed to a considerable circularity of mobility and migration, primarily between Anglophone countries. International migration may also have unspecified regional variations and impacts. Migration has taken a similar form for half a century and longstanding policies to constrain its more damaging impacts have been conspicuously unsuccessful yet responses remain urgent.