Funding has yet to be “clarified” for the Aspire Post-CSCST (certificate of satisfactory completion of specialist training) Fellowship for the 2025/2026 academic year.
Aspire is a fellowship pathway providing doctors with the opportunity to sub-specialise for a year following completion of higher specialist training. It is funded on an annual basis by HSE National Doctors Training and Planning (NDTP).
An RCPI spokesperson told the Medical Independent (MI) that the College is currently “awaiting confirmation of funding for the Aspire programme for July 2025”.
MI asked the HSE if the Aspire programme may be suspended for the 2025/2026 academic year and whether any such action was due to temporary restrictions around some consultant post appointments. In reply, a HSE spokesperson told MI the future of the 2025/2026 fellowships “is currently being clarified within the HSE to ensure alignment” with the six new health regions. The health regions came into existence last year and appointments and staffing responsibilities have now been regionalised.
The HSE describes Aspire as a “world-class” programme which offers “exceptional individuals high-quality training and exposure to speciality training and advanced clinical skills, in addition to an SpR [specialist registrar] salary for the duration of the fellowship”.
This newspaper was contacted by doctors concerned about the negative impact of any possible suspension of the Aspire Fellowship for 2025/2026.
A spokesperson for the Irish Society of Specialists in Public Health Medicine told MI that a late suspension would immediately impact those who would have been awarded a fellowship in 2025/2026, while also undermining the confidence of doctors in HSE consultant workforce planning.
A missed year of the fellowship would run counter to the Executive’s stated plan of retaining staff and increasing consultant recruitment.
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