John Bruton
Ceist:283 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Health if it is proposed to amend the Medical Practitioners Acts; and if so, the areas of change and the reason for such change.
Written Answers. - Medical Practitioners Acts.
My Department has received proposals from the Medical Council and other interested parties for amendment of the Medical Practitioners Act, 1978.
The various proposals have been collated and my officials are about to enter into a consultation process with the Council to secure an agreed approach to the preparation of amending legislation.
Fourteen years of practical application of the current Act has shown that there is a number of its provisions which need streamlining and up-dating at this stage.
In particular, the parts of the Act relating to fitness-to-practise and registration require revision. So far as fitness-to-practise is concerned, the structure currently in place has proved overly formal, cumbersome and costly. It makes no allowance for a welfare-type approach where such an approach is clearly warranted.
The registration provisions have also proved restrictive in certain circumstances — for example, for foreign doctors who are precluded from further training following completion of the existing statutory period.