Thank you for the response! This is very helpful. I didn't realize that my specialty training would not be recognized - that's a shame.
Regarding non-EU/non-irish: Psychiatry is one of the more open minded specialities. of the 60 or so speciality trainees, you would find around 1/4 are grads from abroad, be it eastern europe, africa, far east; people who never graduated from college here, are not EU or Irish, but started off at the ground up and don't get refused posts. It's more that arriving from the outside and wanting a senior post is unlikely, but you will get every chance if they think you are settling here (limited posts and money means they don't want to give valuable training posts to those who might leave in 6 months or who have no ties - Ireland is very small!). In that sense, it's similar to having to doa residency in the US to get an attending post - you need to come in at the bottom and work your way up and show you are committed.
It's that it won't be recognised, it's that the period of specialist training would be considered too brief.
E.g., Specialist training in Ireland (after you do the basic 3 year minimum residency to gain MRCPsych) is 3 years - be it adult, child, forensic, LD. Child was 4 years up until recently and it was reduced to increase the numbers due to low recruitment (now solved).
The first grade in psychiatry is SHO/Registrar (although you will only be paid at Registrar salary after completing the first part of your MRCPsych). After the mininum 3 years are done and you have finished, you can apply to a variety of jobs:
- lecture post
- research post
- specialist training scheme
because competition is now increased, it is more difficult to get a post on the specialist scheme. On completing the 3 years of specialist training you gain a CCST certificate - there is no exam, but you are under continuous evaluation for the 3 years by educational, clinical and research supervisors (might be different people, might be all the same person).
CCST = Certificate of Completion of Specialist Training. With that, you can then apply for consultant posts. This is why the minimum is 7 years (the stipulation is holding a CCST, or having 7 years completed at a satisfactory level in the area, and a minimum of 5 of which in the speciality).
Most people at time of gaining CCST:
1 year internship
3 years basic training (one of the 12 schemes)
1-2 or even 3 years in research, teaching or other role to gain extra qualifications (e.g., MD, PhD)
3 years specialist training
if you have residency completed and a fellowship, you could apply to the specialist scheme, but all jobs are for 3 years and they will give them to people who are in for the long haul so to speak, as all posts are mapped to eventual consultant posts to match the numbers and service provision (generally).
So your training will of course be recognised, but it likely will not be "enough", as people typically will have several years more experience at an interview at higher levels.
Consultant posts are a combination of clinical, teaching, research and management, so are at a different level to the attending post. You need to prove competence in all of the areas typically, even with a CCST! Hence why people doing specialist training will also to extra things like an MD, PhD, MScs, teaching degrees, CBT degrees, etc., as extra things to make them stand out.
