Vol. 560 No. 1
746 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Health and Children in relation to changes being considered in the means of practice insurance for hospital consultants, his plans to deal with historical claims which arise before the proposed enterprise liability system comes into place; if he has considered issues with regard to off-site practice; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2111/03]
In December 1999 the Government concluded that the arrangements in place to provide insurance and indemnity cover for health service agencies and the professional staff employed by them were no longer satisfactory. It decided that these fragmentary arrangements should be replaced by a new State-funded scheme based on the principle of "enterprise liability". In directly assuming responsibility for these liabilities the Government was concerned to ensure that the Exchequer did not assume responsibility for liabilities which properly belonged to others. Accordingly the Government decided that the new scheme would have no retrospective effect. This means that insurance companies and medical defence bodies which were paid premiums and subscriptions to cover events which had occurred before the commencement date of the new scheme remain liable for claims arising from these events.
The new scheme covers the corporate liability of publicly-funded agencies providing clinical services and the activities of their professional staff. It is proposed that it will also cover the private practice of hospital consultants that takes place in public hospitals. Consultants will remain responsible for organising their own indemnity cover for any private practice which takes place elsewhere. This issue is still the subject of discussions with the organisations representing the medical profession.
Question No. 747 answered with Question No. 695.
