Eight doctors struck off medical register last year

Eight doctors were struck off the medical register last year — the same as the total number removed over the previous three years, it has emerged.

The Medical Council 2011 report shows six doctors had conditions imposed following a fitness to practise inquiry. A further 15 were either advised, admonished or censured.

Health Minister Dr James Reilly, who launched the report yesterday, said it was due to greater surveillance and earlier intervention by the council that more doctors were struck off the register last year.

Council president Professor Kieran Murphy said the legal requirement that all doctors engage in ongoing training to retain their registration, meant the body was now overseeing a doctor’s education from the day they entered medical school until the day they retired.

Of the 37 inquiries held last year, 21 were in public, eight in private, with one partly held in public. Seven were concluded through the call-over process.

Twelve doctors were found guilty of professional misconduct while nine were found guilty of poor professional performance.

Nine doctors were either found not guilty, fit to engage in the practice of medicine or had no case found against them.

Seven doctors consented to censure or an undertaking and six cases were struck out.

Of the 33 doctors referred to the council’s health committee, 10 were referred because of mental disability, nine for drug use, eight for alcohol and drug use, four for alcohol only, one for a neurological disorder and one for hepatitis/drug misuse.

There were 380 complaints received by the preliminary proceedings committee last year.

The majority were about treatment (121) and professional standards (123).

There were 33 complaints about a doctor’s failure to communicate or rudeness, and 12 about the failure to supply medical records or reports.

The report shows the council’s preliminary proceedings committee decided 39 of the 367 cases considered during the year be referred to the fitness to practise committee.

There were 18,812 doctors on the register last year, down slightly from 2010 when there were 18,870.

The vast majority (12,088) qualified in Ireland.

However, the register shows the greatest number of foreign doctors qualified in India at 511, followed by Egypt at 216.

The council’s CEO, Caroline Spillane, said medicalcouncil.ie was used over 200,000 times by people last year seeking to verify the credentials of their doctor.