Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 27 May 1999

Vol. 505 No. 5

Written Answers. - Medical Practitioners.

Breeda Moynihan-Cronin

Question:

14 Mrs. B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Health and Children the investigation, if any, held into the circumstances in which a consultant psychiatrist who had been found guilty of professional misconduct in Canada was employed at Bantry General Hospital; the steps, if any, he is taking to provide more efficient screening of doctors to ensure that any findings of this nature are made known; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13978/99]

Jim O'Keeffe

Question:

15 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Health and Children his views on whether the Medical Practitioners Acts, 1978 and 1993, need to be reviewed and updated in view of recent controversies over doctors in hospitals who have been convicted of offences or suspended from practice overseas. [12844/99]

Jim O'Keeffe

Question:

18 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Health and Children if the report is available into the employment at the County Hospital, Bantry, County Cork, of a doctor suspended in Canada for having an improper sexual relationship with a woman patient; if this will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12843/99]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Cowen)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 14, 15 and 18 together.

Ireland has a very strict regulatory regime which ensures that only competent and properly qualified medical staff can work in this country. No doctor is allowed to practise medicine without being registered in Ireland by the medical council. The council was established under the Medical Practitioners Act, 1978, and registers doctors who qualify from Irish medical schools. It also registers doctors who have been educated and trained in other jurisdictions before they can practise medicine in Ireland. The medical council has authority to register doctors from other EU member states who have rights to practise here under EU freedom of movement directives. I know the council works closely with registration bodies in other jurisdictions, including the general medical council in the United Kingdom.

Once properly registered a doctor is entitled to practise here. For those doctors seeking employment in the public hospital system, as for any other prospective employee, it is the responsibility of employing authorities to check references and previous employment histories of candidates prior to employing them. Specifically in relation to hospital consultants, the Department has recently issued a circular to all employing authorities on the need to ensure that these matters are in order prior to consultants taking up duty on either a permanent or locum basis.

The Local Appointments Commission processes a number of senior medical posts on behalf of the health service employers. Their procedures for hospital consultant posts place the requirement on each candidate to supply three references in advance of the interview stage. For other posts, where the volume of applications would make this procedure prohibitive, the commission carry out these checks on the successful candidate or candidates in advance of making a final recommendation to the employer. Both the Local Appointments Commission and the health service employers agency consider it good recruitment practice to obtain references from new appointees and continue to promulgate this practice among health service employers.

In relation to the particular case, I advise the Deputy that the Southern Health Board follows a detailed set of procedures when a locum consultant applies for a position: contact is made with the applicant's most recent or current employer requesting a reference; documentary evidence of current registration with the Irish Medical Council is sought; documentary evidence of current membership of a medical defence body is sought; and current work permit, if applicable, is sought.

The board had not been made aware that the consultant in question had licensing difficulties in another jurisdiction. The procedures outlined above were followed. The medical council has confirmed that at this time the consultant in question is a fully registered medical practitioner. As soon as the allegation was brought to its attention the board sought clarification on the matter with the individual in question and with the council.

The Deputy will be aware that the Medical Practitioners Act, 1978, is currently being reviewed by my officials. Clearly, fitness to practise is one of the areas which is being examined in this regard.