Assessing doctors - Great — but it should be transparent

WE ARE fortunate enough to live in a society that can afford to sustain an expectation of efficient healthcare provision in our dispensaries and hospitals.

A new scheme, beginning in April, will assess the competencies of consultants, public health doctors and those working in private practice. This can only benefit the medical profession and its patients.

However, the scheme’s potential to build public confidence in our medical services is undermined by the fact that the results of these assessments will not be made available. Like teachers, doctors have managed to sustain a privileged position behind a Maginot Line of professional omertá.

The results of individual assessments will not be available to patients, and doctors who fall short of the standards expected will face fitness-to-practice hearings.

In an earlier time of deference, a reluctance to challenge the findings of any professional person was the norm. Such a quaint etiquette is no longer appropriate, especially in a week when we are told that the State is facing a bill of €1 billion or more for the HIV, hepatitis C, infected-blood scandal.

A pilot scheme was initiated in March but when asked to participate on a voluntary basis, only 126 GPs did so, an unfortunate indication that the profession has not embraced the scheme with the commitment necessary to ensure its success.

The doctors’ representative organisation, the Irish Medical Organisation, has thankfully welcomed the scheme, but said it will be time consuming and resources must be made available to sustain it. The IMO members’ willingness should not be undermined by a lack of funding and the assistance needed should be made available.

It is a pity that the scheme is overshadowed by a culture secrecy that can only lead to suspicion. This suspicion is totally unjustified in the vast majority of cases. Just like the majority of teachers, the huge majority of medical professionals are more than competent to do their jobs and would have absolutely nothing to fear from assessment.

Like the Maginot Line, this veto will ultimately fail. Next April’s move is a welcome step in a process that hopefully will end in a trusting, professional and adult relationship between all medical staff and their patients.

Complete openness and complete transparency are vital and inevitable components of that relationship.