Consultants ‘fail to show for teaching sessions’

CLAIMS by medical students that hospital consultants failed to show for 30% of their teaching sessions last year are to be investigated by an Oireachtas committee.

Their absence has been described as “unacceptable and intolerable” by Oireachtas Health Committee chair Fianna Fáil TD Batt O’Keeffe.

Mr O’Keeffe said the practice “had major implications for the future standards in our health service” because it meant students were denied almost a third of their teaching sessions in medical schools.

“The committee is very concerned and will be calling in the Irish Medical Council (IMC) and the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) to find out why this is being tolerated,” said Mr O’Keeffe.

DKM Economic Consultants Ltd, which compiled the report, Restrictive Practices in Medical Training, on behalf of the Oireachtas committee, warned the situation would worsen with the introduction of the European Working Time Directive (EWTD). The EWTD limits the hours junior doctors can work to 58 a week. “Thirty per cent no-show rates of lecturers for training sessions were reported by students in 2003, mainly caused by clinical commitments of teachers, and this situation is likely to deteriorate with the coming into effect of the European Working Time Directive,” the report said.

It found teaching times in hospitals are curtailed by increasing pressure on teaching staff and seminar rooms, and turnaround times are quicker, giving students less opportunity to meet patients in a stress-free manner.

The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) defended its members, saying the root of the problem was there were not enough consultants to provide the necessary training.

IHCA secretary general Finbarr Fitzpatrick blamed clinical commitments.

“If a clinical emergency clashes with a teaching lecture, then a consultant has no option but to attend the medical emergency,” Mr Fitzpatrick added.

The report said the Irish Medical Council is also unhappy with the clinical training of medical students. It wants a cap on numbers of first-year medical students taken in this autumn at last year’s figures, until the training issue has been resolved.