University College Cork Logo

School of Medicine

Intern Matching Programme and Registration

Overview

Following sucessful completion of the Final Medical Examination, and subsequent graduation, Medical students are required to complete one year of Internship training in order to achieve registration with the Irish Medical Council. The following should be noted:

  • The UCC School of Medicine facilitates an Internship Matching Programme that allocates Medical students to Internship posts. All graduates of EU Medical Schools recognised by the Irish Medical Council are elegible to apply to participate in the Internship Matching Programme.
  • The Internship Matching Programme may nor result in the allocation of all applicants to posts. Medical students should understand that in applying for Intern posts they are competing for jobs in an open jobs market.
  • The employers of Interns are the relevant Health Service Executives and so all queries in relation to contracts, working/holiday time, work permits, etc.must be directed to the Health Service Executive.
  • The relevant Health Service Executive manages funding of Internship posts and the availability of posts may change suddenly depending on availability of funding.
  • For all MB BCh BAO graduates of the UCC School of Medicine the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine & Health must approve Internship posts, most especially posts that were not allocated as part of the School of Medicine Intern Matching Programme (eg. internships in other countries etc.). All graduates must submit details of their Internship posts which are outside of the UCC Intern Matching Programme to the Medical School office before commencing work for approval purposes. This will facilitate future requests for registration with the Irish Medical Council and the UK General Medical Council. Graduates proceeding without approval will not have their Internship training approved in retrospect and, therefore, will not be eligible for full registration with the Irish Medical Council or the UK General Medcial Council on the basis of their training. Such graduates will have to undertake an examination to achieve temporary registration initially and then apply for full registration.

The Match

All Final Medical students are circulated with a list of choices of Intern placement before Easter each year. Students rank these choices in order of preference and submit to the Medical School office.

Following the Final Medical Examinations in May:

  • The Medical School Office receives a ranked list of Final Medical examination results from the UCC Examinations Office.
  • The top person in the class gets their first choice. This is then removed for everyone else and the iteration continues through the ranked class until all intern posts are filled.
  • If, after this process, some EEA students are not matched with posts the equivalent number of matched non-EEA students at the bottom of the ranking will be exchanged for these EEA students. This is in accordance with relevant legal requirements.
  • The School places all students who have passed Final Medical examinations at the first attempt before other students.
  • Placements at this stage are mostly for 1 year (6 months Medicine and 6 months Surgery), however the Health Service Executive may have unlinked posts in either Medicine or Surgery for 6 months.

Following the Final Medical Examination in November:

  • The Medical School Office receives a ranked list of Final Medical examination results from the UCC Examinations Office.
  • The top person from the November examinations gets first choice of available posts. This is then removed for the other students. This iteration continues until all available Intern posts are filled.
  • Students should note that Intern posts starting in January are very limited and are for 6 months only.
  • A placement for 6 months starting in January does not guarantee a further placement for 6 months starting the following July.

Number of Intern Posts available through the UCC Intern Matching Programme:

  • For the 03/04 Intern Match there were 87 Intern places available through the UCC Intern Matching Programme (a place is 6 months medicine and 6 months Surgery) plus one unlinked post.
  • For the 004/05 Intern Match there were 96 places available plus three 6-month only placements.
  • A small number of new psots may come on stream for 2005/2006 however posts may also not be available due to lack of funding or changes in allocation mechanisms.
  • The final number of places available for the 2005/2006 Match will not be known for definite until April/May 2006.

Registration Service Provided by UCC Medical School for Internships of UCC Matching Programme:

UCC Medical School provides the following Registration service for those completing Internships allocated as part of the UCC Matching Programme:

  • Pre-printed Certificates of Internship for every Intern are sent to hospitals at the end of each period of Internship (currently each 6 months) for completion and verification
  • On receipt of Certificates of Internship from hospitals Certificates of Experience are generated by the Medical School Office.
  • All Certificates of Experience are sent to the Dean's Office for signature.
  • On receipt of the signed Certificates of Experience they are sent to the Irish Medical Council by the Medical School Office.

The Medical Council can not proceed with full registration until a Certificate of Experience is received from UCC Medical School.

Completing Internships Elsewhere

It is possible to complete Internships elsewhere and still achieve registration with the Irish Medical Council. Students should note:

 

 

 

Image Denoting Logos of Sites to which this page can be shared