Insurance row - Harney talks with British body vital

HOPES are growing of a breakthrough in the long festering row between the Government and the British Medical Union over insurance cover for hospital consultants.

Essentially, the dispute is between the Department of Health and the British-based MDU over who should cover consultants for impending compensation claims involving incidents of malpractice in the past.

The compromise decision to allow a surgeon to pick his legal team from a panel drawn up by the department is a move in the right direction.

Arguably, an independent chairperson should be appointed to try and resolve the ongoing crisis which has left both patients and consultants in a legal limbo.

In the popular interest, Health Minister Mary Harney should agree to meet the MDU.

What sticks in the public craw, however, is the fact that taxpayers’ money will be used to defend highly paid consultants, a profession accused of putting private fee-paying clients ahead of less well-off public patients, the second-class citizens of our two-tier health service.