Vol. 577 No. 3
411 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children if he has rejected one of the key recommendations of the Hanly Report which proposed an independent and statutory central training authority to regulate the training of non consultant hospital doctors; and if the authority will not now be independent but part of the health service executive. [30692/03]
The publication of the report of the national task force on medical staffing – Hanly report – following on the publication of the Prospectus and Brennan reports in June 2002, completed the package of reforms set out in the health service reform programme announced in June. The Government published the Hanly report on October 15 and endorsed its recommendations in principle, including its central conclusion that a consultant-provided service is the only viable means of providing safe, high quality care while reducing the working hours of doctors in training as required under the European working time directive and reorganising medical education and training appropriately.
The Hanly report contains a range of recommendations on medical education and training, which the Government has endorsed in principle. In particular, the report recognises that genuine training posts for all non-consultant hospital doctors, NCHDs, are integral to a consultant-provided service by recommending a definitive shift away from the creation of NCHD posts for purely service reasons, the phasing out of all such non-training NCHD posts and the regulation of all hospital medical posts by a single agency subject to a requirement for independent approval of NCHD training posts on the basis of training, as distinct from service, criteria.
The report also recommended a dedicated statutory central authority with a wide range of medical education and training functions including the approval of NCHD posts. The Government endorsed the need to draw together the various functions relating to medical education and training, but believed that this could best be achieved within the reformed health structures announced in June on foot of the Prospectus and Brennan reports. Current thinking is that these functions are best carried out within the health service executive, when formally established. This will require putting in place appropriate mechanisms to guarantee sufficient independence of service pressures to ensure that all junior doctors will be in genuine structured training posts.
