Doctors want clarity on public complaints hearings plans

DOCTORS have called for clear guidelines before plans to allow public hearings into complaints against them pass into law.

Draft heads of bill for the new Medical Practitioners Act propose to allow the Medical Council hold public hearings for the first time. However, it comes with the caveat that the council may hold a private hearing at the request of the complainant or the practitioner, if it believes it to be more appropriate.

Chairman of the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP), Dr Eamonn Shanahan, said while they welcomed greater transparency, the proposals appeared vague in their current format.

“We would welcome the principle of the council undertaking its business in public, it can only benefit the public,” said Dr Shanahan. “I think, however, aspects of this require further consideration because there will be cases where confidentiality would better serve the public interest and where a public hearing would only exacerbate the trauma. The basis on which the council can make a decision to hold a public or a private hearing needs to be clarified. We need clear guidelines.”

Medical Council member Dr Asam Ishtiaq said that it was important that public hearings didn’t turn into trial by media and that

those under investigation were presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Dr Shanahan said while the ICGP supported plans to review a doctor’s competence every five years, resources would have to be put in place to allow this.

“Doctors will have to be given protected time to meet the requirements of peer review, which involves a significant time commitment during the working day. Resources will have to be put in place to ensure continuity of patient care while doctors are involved in the review process.”

Irish Patients Association spokesperson Stephen McMahon said resources would also have to be put in place to ensure complaints referred onto the Ombudsman could be dealt with. The proposed legislation allows complainants to refer their complaint onwards, if they are dissatisfied with the council’s inquiry, a proposal which Mr McMahon said was “an important safety mechanism for the public”.

However, he called for clarification on whether all complaints not upheld by the council could be appealed.

Mr McMahon welcomed the plan to include lay persons in the membership of the council for the first time.

General secretary of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association Finbarr Fitzpatrick said they welcomed the proviso that hearings of complaints against doctors could be held in private in certain circumstances “which could be to the advantage of the complainant as well as the defendant”.

He said the plan to extend the scope of Medical Council inquiries to unregistered doctors was a good one “because the area badly needs to be policed”.